Crossroads
by silsecri
Summary: Crossover with Dark Angel. After 'Freak Nation', some transgenics find themselves in the middle of Roswell's 'Departure'. LizAlec, and others. Chapter 11 and Epilogue are up.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Dark Angel and Roswell don't belong to me. Don't sue.

A/N: Thanks to Itay and Roon for being my betas for this story.

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**Crossroads**

By Lyra

**Prologue**

**Desert, Pod Chamber, NM  
May 21st, 2001, 6:30 AM**

Max Evans, his sister Isabel, his 'brother' Michael Guerin and Tess Harding were standing inside the Granolith Chamber. Their eyes fixed in the inverted cone filling the centre of the room, some of its mystery revealed at last.

"This is a key," Max said holding a cylindrical white crystal in his hand. "When we insert it, the Granolith will transport us...home. It will take 48 hours for it to prepare itself. When it's ready, we have to be on board or we don't go. This key is coded for one mission, only one. When we use it, it's gone. It's our only way home." He made a pause and looked his siblings in the eyes. "Is everyone ready?" He asked them, feeling anything but ready himself. After so long looking for answers and wondering ... he couldn't believe he was about to 'turn on' an alien machine that would take them back to their planet.

Isabel shook her head. "This is happening too fast." Her voice trembled slightly and Max knew she was terrified.

He hugged her. "We have no choice, Iz."

Michael knew Tess had to leave because of the baby, but they couldn't forget about their friends. He voiced the thought he knew Max was trying to deny. "What about Leanna? She's still out there, Max, how can we leave? I mean, she's already tried to kill Alex, what's to stop her from killing Liz or Kyle or Valenti or Maria?" He almost chocked on the last name. The thought of something happening to Maria because of him had been one of his most pressing worries the last years.

Max's eyes hardened. "I'll take care of Leanna," he finally said.

Right then Tess doubled over, holding her stomach. "Max ..." she moaned, reminding him what he had to do ... and why.

Max looked at her worriedly and then walked to the base of the cone and slipped the key into its slot, starting the countdown being shown in a big panel on the wall. "Everyone say your goodbyes," he told them, but he was dreading his own goodbye like nothing ever before.

**Seattle, Washington  
May 21st, 2021, 6:30 AM**

Alec looked around the room. The last few days TC had been full of activity. Everyone had come together to help in any way they could. HQ had been full to the brim on a daily basis. Max hadn't slept at all, always planning and worrying. He could see the strain she was under; her face was tense and serious all the time. She had taken upon herself the full responsibility for all of them. And it showed.

At least she had started to delegate soon enough. The same moment they'd all got down from the roof after raising their flag, she'd started asking people about their specialities and giving out duties.

Alec's eyes followed her around the room to the table he was sitting at. Gathered around were the representatives of the different groups and chores at TC: Max, the leader, with her loyal shadow a step behind her; Mole, in charge of weapons and representative of the 'freaks'; Dix, in charge of intelligence; Dan, an X6 in representation of his series; and Alec himself who, to his utmost surprise, had been chosen as the X5 representative.

Alec knew they were in dire need of money and supplies and he expected this meeting to be about that. But when Logan made room for himself at the table coming out from the shadows Alec knew there was something else going on. Logan hardly ever talked to them directly. He and Max had realized early on that as an ordinary he wasn't well-liked around here. But there he was, clearing his throat, getting ready to bore them to death ... uhmm ... lecture them ... whatever.

"I'll be quick," Logan started.

And then proved himself a liar by making a pause long enough for Alec to think 'that'll be the day,' and discreetly roll his eyes at Max which earned him a not so discreet glare from her.

"I know you guys have lots of needs right now and that those needs are the most pressing matter."

'Oh please, don't let him even talk about an EO mission or these people will kill him,' Alec thought, 'myself included.'

"So I've been looking around ... and I found this diamond exhibition that will take place in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in two days. I know it looks like too much trouble for a few diamonds, too far away and everything... but I have a buyer for some of the pieces of that exhibition that will pay 2 million dollars for them."

The jaws of almost everyone at the table dropped, but Logan wasn't finished yet.

"And he is so desperate to get them that his willing to pay a down-payment [I think there's something missing to indicate that the money you've paid before the job starts you can't get it back no matter what happens, something like lost deposit?] of a quarter of a million." He allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk in face of Alec's whistled appreciation.

"Who would be that desperate?" Mole asked disbelievingly.

"One Cal Langley. He's supposed to be an old man who's spent more than half his life after those rocks, but he can't afford to have anything traced back to him."

Max took charge of the rest of the meeting. With that kind of pay there was no doubt they were taking the job, but to sweeten the deal it turned out that Max had been about to pull that same job two years ago; it was an annual exhibition, so she already knew the basics of the security and the layout of the place.

They decided Alec would be the one to go and he'd take a team of two with him. The formal way of saying that his buddies, Biggs and Cece, would be going shopping with him. They were two of the only four members of his old unit to make it to TC for the moment, and Alec had kept them close most of the time. Pulling jobs with them was much more fun than it had been doing it with Max this last year.

They stole a fast car, for they had to be there in time to make some reconnaissance and pull the job fast. TC needed the money.

**Roswell, NM  
May 22nd, 2001, 11:25 PM**

Alex lied on his bed, his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. The lights off because they hurt his eyes. His lately-ever-present headache starting to get bad. He sighed for the umpteenth time. He couldn't believe they were leaving the planet. Isabel was leaving. They had wasted so much time.

His mind kept going back to that day trapped with Kyle in the Gandarium's nest. He'd meant what he said ...

"_So this is how it ends..." Alex said. _

"_Somehow this is **not** how I pictured it," Kyle commented, bitterness lacing his words. _

"_It was hell of a ride though," Alex observed. _

"_I guess." _

"_I mean, think about it. We not only **met** aliens, but they killed us," Alex went on. Kyle turned his flashlight on him. "How many people can say that?" _

"_You're getting delirious, is that it?" _

"_Nah, take...take a step away from your life, Kyle. You know, I mean, you're part of this... this amazing thing. This... amazing knowledge that **you** have that **6 billion people** on this planet don't. You really want to step out of this cave if it meant that you were gonna be another dumb jock?" _

_Kyle thought about it. "You know what? I wouldn't," he said finally._

Alex didn't regret his involvement with the aliens. They were worth dying for. They had been great friends. Alex had been there for them even before he knew their secret, just because Liz had asked him to and he trusted Liz with his life. Which until that day had been just a figure of speech, but from that moment had been the literal truth.

He'd given his blood to save Max, and he'd lied through his teeth to the Sheriff. Some teens started their illicit life with illegal drinking; Alex had started with obstruction of justice, lying to the authorities, impairing an investigation and, oh yeah, don't forget hacking into a federal computer. If you're gonna tread the criminal path do it with style. That seemed to be his motto.

But the rewards had been just as great as the dangers, which included a variety of things, from FBI persecution to alien enemies. He'd gotten to know a group of amazing people that cared about him just as much as he cared about them. And not just the aliens.

Kyle had turned out to be a great guy. Not even when he was dating Liz had he spent enough time with Kyle to get to know him. And anyway, knowing about the aliens had brought about a drastic change in Kyle. For the better, as far as Alex was concerned. It had given Kyle a depth he lacked before, too busy being your typical high school jock.

Alex was proud of considering Kyle a close friend now.

And the Sheriff. Who would have thought he'd ever consider the Sheriff his friend? But he did. Jim Valenti had become the parent they all needed in times of hardship but couldn't have because of their secret. And he cared a great deal about every single one of them.

Michael would deny to his dying day that he was anyone's close friend, but he was just the same. It turned out he had a huge heart, and he felt responsible for the protection of the whole group. And he had been a great influence on Maria. Maybe just as great as she had been on him. They had grown a lot this last year, together.

And what could he say about Isabel? He loved her. He had been hurt and in denial for a long while. It had taken forever to break through her Ice Princess persona to get to the real her. But he did. She loved him completely now, he knew it. And he'd finally accepted the depth of his own love for her. It hurt like hell to think he would never see her again.

Even Max could be considered a great friend, even though he'd behaved like a jerk these last few weeks. Alex knew something had happened between Max and Tess, and that it had made things between him and Liz even worse than they were. He didn't know the details, his relationship with Isabel and the rest of the aliens had been mostly superfitial at that point. But he knew Max had stopped pursuing Liz a while back and it looked like he finally had started to give into his destiny, letting Tess in more and more.

That was the worst part of their involvement with the aliens. All the heartbreak it had caused to Liz. But still, Max had been trying to keep them all safe throughout the whole journey. He'd gone to hell to save Liz, and he'd saved his own life.

Alex couldn't remember anything from a few days before his accident, but he'd gotten a really intense flash from Max when he'd connected with Alex a few days later to make sure everything was okay. They'd had to leave the hospital in such a hurry ...

"_There's been an accident," Valenti said with an urgent voice. _

"_What happened?" Max asked, immediately taking charge of the situation. _

"_We need to go now, Max. There's no time. It's Alex." _

_The moment the words left Jim's mouth it was like a bomb had gone off in the Crashdown. Everyone took their things and started piling into the cars. Max went with Valenti, who would get him through to Alex. Sheriff Hanson had called Jim as soon as he checked the license number of the wrecked car and saw it belonged to one of the Valenti kid's friends. Jim hadn't wasted any time, going straight to the Crashdown to get Max, just in case. _

_Thank God he had. They had just declared him clinically dead when Jim managed to get Max in there and keep everyone busy outside. It was a huge risk, but they had all agreed the risk was worth it. Even if they had to spend the rest of their lives running. _

_Max went up to the surgical table. Alex was covered in blood, and so still... Max felt ill, but he couldn't afford to waste any more time. Alex had been clinically dead for too long already. He would had to kick-start his heart and repair any damage the brain had suffered. And then heal the rest of the wounds enough, so that he wouldn't die again before the doctors could step in and finish the job. _

_He put his hand on Alex's scalp, praying that his dark hair would be enough to cover the silver handprint that was bound to appear. Silently, he thanked Tess for helping him develop his powers so that he didn't need Alex to be conscious to start the connection. He knew Alex's energy by heart, the whole group's actually. Max only needed to find the residual energy flux that would cling to Alex's body for a while longer and infuse some of his own energy. _

_After a few precious seconds he found it. Max put all his focus and will-power into making this work, and he was greatly surprised when only a few instants later he felt Alex's energy start to gather round and the real connection flared to life. _

_Working against time, Max's hand glowed brightly and only a minute later the heart started to beat. Max concentrated on healing as much as he could without raising too many questions, apart from the obvious one about him being alive at all, of course. When he felt Alex's energy was strong enough to pull him through, Max connected the heart monitor, that started beeping loudly, and disappeared the same way he came in. _

_The moment he was out of sight the room filled with astounded doctors and their staff, all ready to work on their miracle case. The rest of that night, until they could take Alex home in the wee hours of the morning and against medical advise - expressed rather loud and energetically, was a blur to Max. He had spent large quantities of his own energy and he needed to rest badly. _

_Thankfully, a fake authorization courtesy of the aliens and presented by the former sheriff was enough to extract Alex from the hospital before anyone noticed the alien tattoo on his head._

Max's feelings had come through the connection loud and overwhelming. Max had been terrified for him, for all them.

Alex felt so grateful to know that they all were willing to live the rest of their lives on the run if that meant they could save him.

He couldn't remember how he'd gotten in the accident that had killed him. Max thought he must have hit his head pretty bad because there had been a lot of damage to his brain, and truth was Alex had suffered from an almost chronic headache since then.

Speaking of which, his head was killing him. Suddenly it felt like it was on overload. Alex reached for the pain killers on his bedside table and swallowed two pills. He lied back down and hugged the pillow to his chest. Eyes closed and face crumpled in a grimace, he waited for the pain to subside, his fingers drumming on the pillow. To his misery, the pain grew instead of receding.

And it had been his accident that had caused the rift that now divided them. Liz hadn't believed it was an accident. She was convinced it was something alien related. She said things didn't add up. When his parents went to see if the car was salvageable they had collected any personal items, which included a picture of Leanna with her head cut off. For the life of him, Alex couldn't remember doing that. And when he told the others, Liz was scared that it might have been a threat from 'someone' and insisted on talking to the guy that was delivering his food when Maria and her left him at home, in case he'd seen anything.

The kid had brought more questions than answers. He said his behaviour had been really weird and Liz had decided to investigate more. But she was the only one, none of the others wanted to listen to her. She started asking dangerous questions all around, making the aliens very nervous and angry. Liz tried to jog his memory with continuous questions, but Alex just couldn't remember. It pained him that he couldn't help his closest friend.

This feeling and the residual one over Max's flash kept dancing in his head, getting stronger and stronger, feeding his headache and making it even worse.

In just a few minutes his head felt like it was about to explode. Suddenly, something seemed to give away inside his head. A white light blinding in its intensity burst behind his closed eyelids and the elusive memories he'd been missing hit him like a ton of bricks, knocking the air out of him.

He sat up, gasping for air, his eyes watering from the pain. _"Bitch!"_ he shouted and then run out of his room. He needed Liz and the others. They couldn't let the aliens leave with her. They had to know.

**Las Cruces, NM  
May 22nd, 2021, 11:25 PM**

The three transgenics were seating in the car parked two streets away from their target. Alec turned to look at his companions and gave last time instructions.

"Remember, our first priority is to get this rock," Alec pointed to the third most important diamond in the brochure. "This one will be cashing in one million alone," Alec repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. Which was probably what it was if the way Biggs and Cece were rolling their eyes was any indication.

"You've spent too much time with Logan, you know, you're starting to sound like him. Have you forgotten we don't forget anything?" Biggs said, laughing with Cece at the horror reflected in Alec's face at being likened to Logan.

"Right. First, I'll get you for that comment when this is over. Second, our other priority is to not let any proof that X5s have been here."

"Relax, Alec. We know the score, everything will be ok?" Cece reassured him. "You worry too much. We know what we're doing."

With a small smile to Cece, Alec took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his mind emptying of anything that wasn't mission-related. Two deep breaths later he opened his eyes and saw the other two doing the same.

"Okay, let's do this," Alec said opening his door.

They all got out of the car. Wearing black from head to toe, including a wool hat in Cece's case, they moved soundlessly towards the shadows of the back alley, their eyes going from the building housing the exhibition to their surroundings and back to their objective. They stepped into the alley and melded into the darkness of the night, effectively disappearing in thin air.

**Desert, Pod Chamber, NM  
May 23rd, 2001, 6:50 AM**

Max advanced on Tess, his eyes colder than she'd ever seen them before. "Did you try to kill Alex?" he spoke with a hushed, menacing voice.

"I didn't want to. I wish I hadn't, but I did," Tess answered almost pitifully.

The look on Max's face was a mixture of rage and bewilderment. "Why?" he asked simply, needing to understand this person who had fooled him completely, taken advantage of him, of his trust.

Tess looked at the clock in the wall. "Look Max, th-the clock's ticking, we don't really have time --"

"_TELL ME WHY!"_ Max cut her off, disgusted by her attempts to play him still, with her frail voice and needy eyes.

She gave up pretending. "He would have told you what I did and I couldn't let that happen."

"So you just, you just killed him?" He felt ill. "Because he did die. I had to bring him back." Max shook his head, laughing bitterly. "To think that I thanked God for having you when I was there... resurrecting my friend... I thanked God you'd helped me with my powers so that I could actually do it. And you killed him."

"I didn't mean to. His brain was just too weakened by the mind-warp, and... Look, none of this matters now --"

"Life matters, Tess. My life, your life, his... " Max interrupted her again.

"What matters is getting home, but you could never understand that, could you?" Her hatred showed now, all pretences over. "I might have been able to teach you but that stupid bitch had you wrapped around her --"

"Don't you ever call her that!"

"See! Look how fast you run to her defense! Why couldn't you ever feel that about me? I'm your wife, Max! I'm carrying your child!" She demanded, stepping into his face to shout in his face.

"This was all some kind of plan to get pregnant and go home, wasn't it? Home to what, Tess? To Khivar? To our enemies?" It didn't make sense to him. What could she possibly get from --

"They're not my enemies, Max."

Understanding downed on him. "You made a deal with them, with Khivar."

"No. Nasedo made a deal, 40 years ago," she spat, head held high, proud of her guardian.

"To deliver the three of us?" Suddenly Max had a thought and, without giving her time to react, he put his hand on her womb and forced a connection.

Tess realised too late what he was doing and by the time she tried to start the mind-warp he was already taking his hand away. His mind too strong and his anger too intense to accept the lie.

"You lied," he said, and the acceptance of that truth gave him the strength to keep her at bay. "How did I ever fall in love with someone like you? How could I ever marry you?"

Her only chance gone now, she gave a step back to buy herself some standing ground and then faced him. "You were different -- you were a king! Now you're just a boy." Her voice turned mocking, but it was still loaded with anger and disdain.

Max raised his hand to her neck.

"You're gonna kill me, Max?" she taunted him. She knew him too well.

Max considered it for a moment. He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill in cold blood. "Go," he said, nodding his head towards the whirling cone and he saw relief cross her face. Tess put her hand on the cone and suddenly she was inside, looking down at him. Max looked up at her, his eyes hard, "I'm sure Khivar will welcome you with open arms now that you've failed him."

The last thing Max saw was the realisation and fear overtaking her features. Then the cone turned black.

**Desert, Highway 42, NM  
May 23rd, 2021, 6:50 AM**

"That was way too easy," Biggs said laughing.

They were back on the road after pulling one of the easiest jobs any of them could remember. Of course, no security planners ever considered the possibility of having X5s as cat burglars, but the truth be told, they could still have probably made it if they hadn't been Manticore alumni.

"I wonder what made Max change her mind about this heist. She could have done it easily on her own," Cece said, her eyes glued to the beautiful diamonds in her hands, the rising sun making them shine from the inside.

"She said she saw something on the news that made her leave for Seattle immediately. And you know any of us could have done that alone. We're three for security purposes only," Alec said absently. He was replaying their every move while in the building in his mind.

Alec needed to be sure they hadn't made any mistake, that there wasn't any clue left behind. It would raise enough suspicions about the perpetrators without them leaving a signed card. Things were tense enough in Seattle without the military knowing for a fact that they could, and did, leave TC whenever they wanted with little trouble. There were, of course, other transgenics than the ones in TC, but as far as Alec was concerned, the less it was known about this job the better.

Of course, he needn't have to worry, he realised once he finished the mental replay of the night. The three of them had been on enough missions together to work as a perfect unit. They were good. More than good, they were the perfect team of thieves. Wouldn't Manticore be proud?

Alec's eyes went back to the rear-view mirror to check for any sign of a tail the way he'd been doing all night. And just as the previous times he found nothing. He turned his gaze back to the road in front of him. The highway made a turn to the right and before him, on the horizon, a weird rock formation caught his eye.

"Wow, check that rock, man," he told Biggs, sitting by his side.

**Desert, Pod Chamber, NM  
May 23rd, 2001, 6:53 AM**

Max ran to get out of the cave. The chamber around him had started to disintegrate and he felt the ground beneath him shaking and vibrating. It was obvious there had been more to the Granolith than they ever realised. It felt like the rock around him was changing... becoming something else.

A particularly big rock fell in front of him bringing Max out of his musings. 'Run now, think later,' he thought, sprinting again. All of his senses now intent on getting him to safety.

The rest of the group was already running down the hill when he came out, except for Michael and Iz.

"Run!" he shouted at them. The rumbling had become a thundering roar. Too loud now to be just rocks sliding. He grabbed Isabel's hand and jerked, dragging her with him, Michael watching their backs.

They reached the others and had only time to get a short distance away before the rock behind them exploded and a small ship tore off from it, shooting into the sky as a firework.

Max raised his head on time to catch a small glimpse of it before it disappeared in the distance. A feeling of failure overtook him. He knew there was nothing more he could have done, but still...

Suddenly, he felt like his feet were glued to the ground and he lost his balance, the hard surface of the desert rushing up towards his face. It felt like the expansive wave from the explosion had caught him and sent him hurtling through the air, but at the same time he felt like everything was moving around him while he kept still. He almost expected to feel singed. Wasn't that what happened with explosions? But all he felt was weird energy travelling through his body, from head to toe, making him want to crawl out of his skin. He could see some of the others falling down too. What was going on?

**Desert, Highway 42, NM  
May 23rd, 2021, 6:53 AM**

The strange rock formation was closer now and they realised that it had a part missing. Now that they were as close to it as the road allowed them they could see that the side they were now facing seemed to have been blown up. Alec opened his mouth to comment about it but before he could utter a word the whole world seemed to freeze before starting to hum.

Alec felt the vibration travelling though his body, from head to toe. It was like the bottom had suddenly fallen from underneath him and he was sinking, dragged by a giant hand around his ankles. His stomach lurched up in his throat, as if he had just missed a step... or more likely like he had reached the top of the highest rollercoaster ever and he had just toppled over in a free fall. His vision blurred, making him dizzy, and his ears rang loudly.

It seemed like it went on forever, and then it was over. As abruptly as it had begun.

Alec looked around, almost expecting to see they were some other place, but everything was the same.

Or almost everything.

**Same place  
May 23rd, 2019, 6:53 AM**

The black motorcycle sped down the deserted highway. The rider wasn't wearing a helmet, sunglasses the only protection she wore and her curly hair flew wildly behind her.

The heist, the diamonds, the danger, Lydecker... Everything disappeared from her mind except one thing.

'That was Seth on TV. I know it was.' That was her last thought before her whole body hummed with a paralysing intensity and she lost control of the Ninja, crashing into the ground.

Max went down and slid on the asphalt with the inertia until a big rock on the side of the road stopped her. But the weird feeling inside her didn't stop with her and Max kept thinking that someone was trying to suck her somewhere... somehow...

**Desert, NM  
May 23rd, 2001, 6:54 AM**

Alex stood with great difficulty, giving his hand to Isabel to help her up too. To his right, Michael was hugging Maria who had fallen to the ground and had scrapped her hands and knees. Michael was tenderly cleaning and healing the small cuts on her skin.

Liz had fallen too, but she was already on her feet, helping Kyle up.

"What the hell was that? Did you feel it too?" Max asked no one in particular. He was looking at the opening of the Pod Chamber. Or what once stood there. The take off had blown up the upper part of the formation, and rocks of all sizes had cascaded over the side of the hill towards them, blocking the entrance to the chamber in the process.

"I guess Tess gave us a goodbye gift," Maria spat, her voice dripping sarcasm and contempt.

**Same place and time**

The car had stopped when the freaky sensation had started and Alec looked at Biggs and Cece to see if they were fine.

"You felt that?" Cece was saying, but Alec's eye caught movement outside the car and turned to see what was there now that hadn't been there before. The black shape slid past the car and against a rock.

"Fuck!" he cried out and bolted out the door.

Biggs, that had been about to comment on the sudden appearance of a group of people in the hill down the weird rock, shut his mouth and went after him.

Cece was already out. One look at the Ninja lying on the ground and they all knew who was getting to her feet using the rock behind her as leverage. Though what exactly was she doing here, they had no idea.

Alec reached her first. "Max!" She was almost up now. "Max, are you ok?"

Max's head snapped up, her eyes quickly scanning her surroundings. She took in the three people approaching her, her Spidey-danger sense on alert. "Who are you people?" Then she frowned. "How do you know my name?" She shook her head to clear it and stretched all her muscles, ready to flee any second.

Alec was startled to hear this. "Max, are you ok?" he repeated. "It's me, Alec. Did you hit your head or something?"

"Yeah, Max, it's us," Biggs added when Max kept looking at them as if they were crazy. "Biggs," he said pointing at himself, and then at Cece, "Cece. Rings a bell?"

"What are you doing here, Max? I thought we were doing this job alone. You didn't say anything about another team," Cece said carefully.

"Yeah, and what's with the curls?" Alec asked bewildered.

Max seemed to grasp at the only thing that made sense to her. "What's wrong with my hair?" She glared at Alec. "And I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea who any of you are." She took a step back, casually redistributing her weight so that she could launch herself in any direction.

Seeing this, Alec relaxed his own stance and held his hands up. The other two retreated a few steps. They all could see how tense Max was and they didn't want her to run off.

"Hey, take it easy. We don't want to hurt you. I know your name because you've told me. I know you. We've known each other for a year now. Did you hit your head, Max?" Alec insisted. "Do you have amnesia or something?" Alec tried to move closer to her, very slowly. But she mirrored his movement, so he stopped again.

Max frowned and she tried to remember her last few hours, then days, and then some of her oldest memories. Everything seemed fine. "No, I didn't hit my head. I don't have amnesia. I know my name. I know who and where I am. I just don't know who you are."

"Okay, how about when, then?" Alec was sure there was something wrong with her memory. And her hair.

"May 3rd, 2019, smartass. Happy now?" she said with her usual sassy attitude, hand on her hip and cocked head.

"I am _so_ not happy," Alec said, to her obvious surprise. "It's May 3rd, all right, Max. But you're off two years. It's 2021."

Max looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head. When he returned her gaze seriously, she turned to Biggs and Cece who nodded at her.

"But that can't be!" she spluttered.

Biggs chose that moment to point the 'out of the blue' people to Alec who, not knowing what was going on, said, "Okay, we'll ask them." And started walking in their direction. His hearing intent on picking up their words from a safe distance, just in case.

**Same place and time**

Kyle watched Isabel clinging to Alex, and Maria trying to stay on her feet with the help of Michael's shoulder. He saw Liz observing the ruins of what had once been the Pod Chamber, as if trying to read the explanation to today's happenings in the rocks and Max making sure everyone was fine. Suddenly he felt out of place.

He turned his back on the group and his gaze rested upon a car and a bike stopped on the road right below them and four people that were walking towards them. "Hey, guys... Tell me I'm seeing things." Everyone looked at him and followed his eyes. "Because I'm damn sure there was no one there when Evans came out of the cave and that thing went off."

"Everyone, move!" Michael said, taking charge and he heard Kyle muttering something like 'Damn, they're really there', but before anyone could take a step both Max and Liz spoke.

"No!" they shouted at once.

"We can't just run, Michael," Max said.

"Why the hell not? 'Good' people don't appear from thin air," Michael insisted.

"You don't know that, Michael," Liz tried to reason with him. "They don't look like they're trying to sneak on us or attack us. Besides," she added before Michael could retaliate, "we can't leave, anyway. There's nowhere to go." She looked pointedly around. "You felt that thing too. You know something weird just happened, and it might have something to do with them. They weren't there before."

Michael looked like he wanted to argue some more but the strangers were already there, so he turned around and took position before the group, Max by his side. The rest were moving closer together.

"Hey," the guy on the front said. "Excuse me, fellas, we were wondering if you could tell us the date? Because our friend here," he went on pointing to a short brunette with long dark wavy hair, "hit her head when she fell off her bike and she doesn't believe us." He looked at them expectantly.

Michael looked at Max, not knowing what to think. Whatever he'd expected these people to say, 'Sorry, what's the date?' had not been it.

Max looked back at him, bewildered too. This was too weird even for them.

Just then Liz snorted softly behind them and pushed them aside, stepping in front of them. She smiled friendly at the guy and said, "It's May 3rd." But the guy kept looking at her, so she added, "2001."

Alec started at that. He looked back at Max, whose eyes were bulging incredulously, and then at Biggs and Cece, who looked as if someone had pulled the bottom from beneath them... or someone had just told them the year was 2001.

He closed his eyes and thought 'Oh, man.'

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Please review!


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Thanks to my betas, Itay and Roon, their contribution is priceless.

**Chapter 1**

_Liz's POV_

The first moments after telling them the date would have been funny if the situation wasn't so dire. We didn't know who they were or if they were 'good' or 'bad' guys. Michael wanted to get away from them as fast as alien-ly possible and I could see that they were having some kind of internal struggle too. They looked like they were expecting one of us to say 'Fooled ya!' so Maria got her cell phone from her pocket and showed the date on the screen to them.

The tension was so palpable you could've cut it with a knife. The brunette turned around intent on going back to her bike, and the other three went after her. We couldn't hear what they were talking about but after a few long and awkward minutes they all came back.

"Ok," said the same guy, "this is what we know. Things are way too weird, because we," he pointed to himself, the other guy and the blond girl, "were in 2021 just a while ago." He pulled out his own phone and showed us the date. It said 5/03/2021, 6:53 AM. It had obviously stopped working when the Granolith went off. "And Maxie here, was in 2019. And you were nowhere in sight until 'that' moment." He added pointing to his phone. "So how about telling us what the hell is going on?"

I knew it had to be the Granolith, after all I knew it could affect time from first-hand experience. But the rest, except Maria, didn't. And I didn't want to go into that right then. Not with Max and the others, and especially not with all these strangers. But something had to be done.

"Guys, I think we need a moment." I told the four of them and we walked a short distance away. "Well, I was right. It was the Granolith that brought them here, but why and why them? I mean who are they?"

"How can we be sure of that?" Michael demanded.

"Michael, please, four people from two different timelines just appear at the exact same moment an alien artefact goes off, and what, you think on top of that some other freaky thing was happening that's the one responsible for them being here?" I said, sarcasm getting the better of me. I took a deep breath. "I don't know what happened, okay, but it's our fault they're here and we're going to have to work with them to fix this."

"Work with them how, you want to tell them about us and then what? Say 'don't tell anyone pretty please'?" Michael snapped.

"Liz, he's right, it's too risky." Max spoke up.

"Then what do you suggest, because I don't hear any other ideas." I said. "Besides I didn't say anything about telling them. We just ... I don't know! We have to do something. At least we have to talk to them, don't you think?"

"I don't know about that, but we should get out of here." Alex cut in. "We don't know if anyone's noticed anything. You guys remember what happened last year with the orbs. Apparently people all over the world noticed something strange. We don't want to be here if anyone comes to investigate."

"He's right." Isabel said. "But what are we going to do with them?"

"They'll have to come with us." I insisted. "At least for now."

"Yeah? And where do you suggest we take them?" Michael snapped at me. I could see how on edge he was. He looked really mad but I got the feeling he was more worried than anything else.

"We could go to the quarry." Maria offered, taking Michael's hand in hers. "You know it's a safe place and we don't really use it anymore, we've got your place now for our secret meetings."

_Alec's POV_

Everything felt like a weird dream. Although, considering my life, things pretty much feel like that everyday. I mean, engineered killing machine with animal DNA here, hello. Speaking of which, the kids had walked away to a safe distance so they could talk in private ... if we were 'normal'. Since we're not, we could here what they were saying, but it didn't really clear anything up. 'Tell us about them?' What was that about?

While they were trying to decide what to do next, I realized two things: first, that they were in the know as to what had happened, or at least more than us; and second, they were worried we were going to discover something about them, and didn't know shit about us. That gave us a slight advantage.

I signalled to Biggs, asking what he thought about it, and he agreed with me. Which meant, we would go with them to this 'quarry' and see where that took us.

The only problem was-

"They're crazy if they think I'm going anywhere with them." Max hissed.

"Come on, Max. What harm can it do? They know something. Do you want to stay here forever?" I egged her.

"Shut up, Alec."

"Come on, Max, you know with all four of us here there's not much they can really do to us." CeCe tried to reason with her. Yeah, good luck with that, C.

"Actually, I know nothing. I don't even know you." Max said carefully. I could see in her eyes that she wanted to turn back and 'blaze', but even she knew it wouldn't do much.

We'd managed to convince her to stay with us the first time she tried to leave by spouting off basically everything we knew about her, things that couldn't come out of a Manticore file so that she wouldn't think we were on a 'Capture and Retrieve' mission. Max never said much about her past, but we've talked a bit lately ... my Max and me, that is. Wow, that sounds weird, 'my' Max.

Anyway, we needed Max with us, I couldn't be worrying about our situation **and** keeping Max close at the same time. Ok, so I could. I just didn't want to have to bother.

"Look, Max, I know you don't know us. I know everything is beyond Manticore weird right now, but you have to trust us, ok?" I could see the fire rise in her eyes, she was ready to say to hell with everything and make a run for it. "Max! Listen to me. Do you believe that we are in 2001?" Max hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Do you believe that 'we' come from 2021?" She was less reluctant this time. "Then believe me when I say that you may not know us but we know you. Besides, right now it wouldn't matter if we're not friends. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Remember that? So in this mess we're in, we're the only thing you've got. We're your family." I saw that spark flash in her eyes, the way it always did when she thought of her lost siblings. "The closest thing to, anyway."

"I guess you're right." Max said slowly and then her eyes narrowed slightly. "You know, Alec, you haven't really proved that you're Manticore." She challenged me.

"Oh come on! We know everything there is to know about it, and just look at us," I winked at her, "there's no way I'd look this good of I hadn't been engineered." Biggs laughed out loud and CeCe tried to hide her chuckle.

Max just scoffed. "Show me your barcodes." She demanded.

"Lasered off."

_Max Guevara's POV_

That's convenient. Although, as much as it pains me to admit it, the guy is right. Everything about him screams genetic perfection. I fought the urge to growl at him. Damn.

"OK. I'll go with you on this one. Even if it's just for the time being."

"You mean you won't bail on us the next time we blink?" Alec drawled and I was sure he was trying to rile me up.

"For now." I smiled sweetly at him. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to trust them." I finished and they all sighed tiredly. Hey, I haven't been running half my life to give up now on the whim of three semi-strangers.

"Max..." I swear he was whining, as if he felt we'd been having this argument forever.

"Alec you're gonna have to give her some reasons. Remember she's been on the run for a long time. Her mindset is totally different to ours." CeCe interjected soothingly.

"Yeah, and you know you'd have the same problem with our Max." Biggs added smirking at Alec, getting a suffering sigh from him and a glare from CeCe.

"Still here, guys." I couldn't help but say. I hate it when people talk about me like I'm not there.

"Right." Alec said. "OK, I get that you don't want to trust anyone. That's understandable. But you have to realise that things are not what you think, Max. I know you've been hiding from Manticore since you escaped but look around you. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." He was talking to me like I was a child. Who the hell does this guy think he is?

"Alec!" CeCe scolded him and I got the feeling she was like the mother of the other two.

"Sorry, C." Alec said contritely, not. Can this guy be serious for a moment? He went on. "Look, Max, these kids are ordinaries, we don't really need to hide from ordinaries. There's not that much they can do to us. The only people we should be wary of are Manticore and, the military." Alec made a slight pause there, like he'd changed his mind about what he was going to say right then.

"So what you're trying to say is that since they're not Manticore it doesn't matter if they know what we are." I wanted to be clear on what he'd said.

"Well, yes. Think about it, in 2001 Manticore was starting to collect the first successful fruits of their experiments, they're not missing any soldiers," he said making air quotes, "they're not looking for anyone outside their gates. They're not looking for you, Max."

Well, that made sense, but still...

"And we're back to the trust thing." Alec said. Hmm? Maybe I'm going soft with the shock, I'm usually harder to read... "You're right. You don't know us, but, a) we're exactly the same as you, and b) we want the same thing," he smirked at me, "to figure this bitch out so we can blaze, no big dealio." He could barely hold his laughter, but at least he was more successful than Biggs and CeCe. I was stunned to have my own coinphrases thrown back at me.

I opened my mouth to retort then closed it again. Alec was right. I've spent my life searching for my siblings. And they're the closest I've ever been to them. So what if I haven't confided in anyone before, what if I've had only me to trust since I was 9. They are X5s like me, they seem to really know me, some of the things Alec told me were pretty personal. I think I must be closer to him than to Biggs and CeCe wherever they come from.

I looked at them. They were watching me, waiting for me to make up my mind, not crowding me. Maybe I'd see the day I regret it but it felt right to trust them. It must have showed in my face because they all smiled at me, knowing my decision even before I opened my mouth.

Just then the 'ordinaries' came back. Ordinaries ... where did he get that term from?

_Max Evans's POV_

I couldn't remember a time when things had been so tight. And we have been through some hard stuff. But people from the future! I kept waiting to just wake up and have it all be a nightmare. And not just this ... everything.

"Listen..." I faltered, I didn't even know how to address them. Guys? Totally strange people from the future? Hey, you? I opted for nothing. "We shouldn't stay here, whatever happened may have caught someone's attention and that's the last thing we want."

"So what do you propose?" The brunette girl asked.

"There's this deserted quarry not that far away. It's private and we could ... talk there." It sounded lame even to me. But how was I supposed to get them to come with us? I just knew we had to leave, now. I was trying to come up with a valid reason to convince them but the blonde guy cut my efforts short.

"Ok, lead the way, we'll follow." He said and they turned around and walked back to their car.

"Anyone else think that was too easy?" Michael said, he wasn't overly convinced with the plan and he didn't need much to be even more suspicious. Even I had this flash of a cartoon with a big bubble over his head: come this way to get yourself killed. Huh? Maybe I've spent too much time lately in the Valenti household.

_Liz's POV_

On the way here Kyle called his father and we waited for him to arrive. They had gone back to their vehicles and tried to make them work, probably thinking that since they had stopped on their own maybe they wouldn't but both theirs and ours worked just fine. Once here, the only words exchanged for now had been the reason we were waiting and our names. The dark blonde guy who had been doing the talking until now was Alec, the dark haired one was Biggs - where did he get that name? -, and the girls were CeCe, the blonde, and Maxie, who Alec had mentioned already.

I turned my attention to our group. Things were strained enough between us and throwing the sudden appearance of four strangers in the mix hadn't helped. Every little decision was like pulling teeth.

I hadn't felt this kind of tension since the first days of our strained friendship, when Michael and Isabel had been furious with Max for saving me, and wary of our reaction to them; and Maria had been terrified of the aliens, especially Isabel.

We'd had a hard beginning as a group, things getting more complicated every time the group grew, but we've gone a long way together.

Maybe too long.

The last year had been hell on all of us, on some more than the others, but no one was exempt. Our lives had stopped being just ours long ago, but since the moment they activated the orbs in the Pod Chamber almost a year ago we'd started fighting amongst ourselves too, and it showed.

I tried so hard to stay on the edge of their lives and problems. I needed to keep my distance then, for my own sanity. If I thought about it, it had always been me creating the schisms that divided us. First by getting shot, then by walking away after their mother's message, then I had to pretend to sleep with Kyle... but it was nothing compared to the effect of my last strike. The moment I said I thought what happened to Alex hadn't been an accident, our world spun out of its axis once again.

_I guess it's us versus them._ Kyle's words echoed through my mind.

Yes, we'd gone a long way together. Even when we were apart, we were still together. Max bound us together when he saved me and I knew now that we couldn't break that bond. Not even when we wanted it most. I couldn't have walked away from them now because I'd be walking away from me. How can you do that?

Oh, I knew I could try. And I would fail.

But I didn't want to try anymore. All the hurt and anguish I'd felt this year had made me realise that this is what I am. I'd spent long hours thinking and writing in my journal. Deconstructing myself and what I'd become. And I realised it wasn't such a bad thing.

I had become a strong person. I had discovered my own beliefs and my opinions, and more important, that I could defend them against anyone. I had gone back to my scientist roots and had a better understanding of them because of my knowledge. All the things that had happened to me, belonging to a sci-fi book better than a scientific journal, gave me a new approach to science. A more realistic one. And I had found a source of self-respect I hadn't needed before. I could stand alone against a storm; I could face it and win.

In a way, I was almost thankful for the heartache and the rejection and everything else. My heart had bleed in a way I hadn't thought possible, but here I was. Standing proud. Liz Parker.

I shook my head to chase my introspective mood away. This wasn't the time. My eyes rounded the group again. It was almost funny. Twelve people thrown together, some sitting down, some standing... all trying to pretend we weren't studying each other, pretend we didn't feel out of our depths. Our group on one side, presenting a united front against these strangers despite our own internal struggles. Them on the other side.

But it looked to me like they were doing the same. Maxie seemed to feel even more out of place than the other three, not totally at ease with them but obviously much more than with any of us. But they knew each other, or at least something bound them together, something they all shared, because she'd accepted their word, no questions asked. At least not in front of us.

I searched their faces now, and suddenly I was struck by the thought that they weren't what they seemed either. I'm sure if you looked into our group from outside we looked like your typical high school kids; that the most important issue we ever had to deal with was which movie we went to see. But I knew different, and I'd learnt how to look for that difference in others.

Alec, CeCe and Biggs were sporting similar faces... too similar? Maxie's was similar, but hers looked worn around the edges. It wasn't noticeable if you weren't looking for it. But I was, and I saw it. I'd spent the last two years learning to read people, looking for danger, trying to spot any small detail out of place. Sometimes I surprised myself with the things I noticed, and when I mentioned them to Maria she'd think I'm paranoid. But still, I look.

They didn't seem to be all that much older than us. Some, yes, but not much. And yet their eyes were older, like mine when I looked into the mirror. Only so much more. I could feel the strength behind their eyes. It wasn't apparent in the way they looked, but I felt it just the same.

The minutes ticked away, the Sheriff had arrived while I was lost in thought but it looked like now no one knew how to start. The silence was deafening.

"Maybe someone should say something," Alec said in a tone that made me think the awkward situation wasn't really something that bothered him. I fixed my eyes on him. He seemed strangely comfortable with the situation they had found themselves in. For someone who woke up in the year 2021, or so they'd said, to find by breakfast time that he was in 2001, Alec looked way too relaxed.

He was sitting on a big rock, in a higher spot, and the sun was coming up behind him making him look alight from inside. Drop-dead gorgeous didn't cover it. Alec was the hottest guy I had ever seen and for a moment I wondered how I could be thinking something like that at a time like this. It was like I couldn't tear my eyes away from him and it took all my willpower to manage to do just that. My gaze rested on Maria, whose eyes were fixed where mine had been an instant ago, upon Alec, her face almost hidden in Michael's chest. But I wasn't sure if that was to seek comfort or to hide her appreciative look.

I looked at Max. Usually he was the one in charge of this kind of thing - not that 'this' kind of thing had happened before. He seemed torn, 'don't trust anyone' had always been our motto, but we couldn't let these people just go on their merry way. From what little information we'd exchanged we'd come to the conclusion that it was the Granolith's fault they were here. That made it our responsibility.

Max looked at Michael as if asking for his opinion, and Michael shook his head. Max turned to Isabel, but I kept looking at Michael. His trust had always been the hardest to earn. I knew he would make things difficult.

I felt the urgent need to figure out what was going on and then go back to looking for my family... and my knee hurt. I rubbed it unconsciously and then caught Maxie doing the same. What-?

"No Maxwell, forget about it. You can't do that," Michael was saying, and I knew that if we were going to have any chance of making this work, I had to convince him that we could trust them. The fluttering thought of why I was so sure we could flew through my mind while I approached Michael.

"Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?" I knew Max and Iz were willing to talk to Alec and the others, I just had to convince Michael that it was ok.

"Why?" he asked, eyeing me curiously. But Michael had learnt to trust me these last few weeks and the look in my eyes must have told him I really needed to talk to him, for he just got up and walked away, not waiting for me, just expecting me to follow. His way of telling me he didn't like it and he was still in charge. It made me smile.

I turned to Kyle and threw him a pleading look before I followed Michael.

"So..." I heard him say, "do cars fly already?" Geez, Kyle.

"Yeah, do you have supercomputers and robots and everything?" Alex asked.

Alec's "Not exactly..." was the last thing I heard.

Michael was standing, looking at me expectantly. "Well, Parker, what is it?" he said.

"Listen, Michael. I know you don't want to tell them, but you have to trust me. We have to tell them at least some part of it. They're good. I know they are."

Michael walked right up to me. "You know? Liz, that's not good enough. How do you know?"

"I feel it." I didn't understand it, and I knew Michael would never go for it. He didn't disappoint.

He pointed his finger at me and exploded. "You feel it?! What the hell are you talking about? Do you have any idea what will happen to us if you tell them and they turn us in?" he hissed as loudly as he dared, not wanting to be heard, but the look in his eyes echoed in my mind as if he'd been screaming at the top of his lungs. "It's easy for you, it's our asses on the line, and it's us who'll suffer the consequences --"

Anger exploded in my chest. "Don't you dare tell me that, I've been suffering the consequences on my own skin," I blurted out without thinking, but it wasn't the moment for this, so I went on, "Besides, what do you think would happen to me, or Kyle or Alex, if they caught us? I'd be strapped to a table and cut open as fast as any of you would."

Michael's conviction faltered a little, but I saw in his face that he was far from won over.

"Michael, in the last two years have I ever intentionally steered you wrong?" He didn't even think about it, shaking his head immediately, making my anger fade. "Have I ever had anything but your safety as my first priority?"

He shook his head again. We stayed silent for a while and I knew the moment he decided to trust me, a feeling of acceptance filling my heart.

"Okay, let's go back there, then. And tell these total strangers every little secret I have," he grumbled, but I knew it was just his way of keeping face in front of me, his way of hiding that he did trust me with his life. I felt the impulse of giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek, but he would have probably died from the shock.

He started walking, not waiting for me again. I smiled at his back. Michael was the one who'd changed the most. He had had a hard time accepting that we wanted to be his friends. He'd never had any before -- Max and Isabel didn't count, they were family -- and I knew when we all first came together that he just couldn't accept that I didn't only worry about Max; that I cared about him too.

I valued very highly the friendship we'd come to have. I'd been there for him and he'd gone out of his way to protect me, going against Max even. I'd lied to his face and he'd still come for us, because he believed in me. I knew Michael's strengths and he knew mine, and when it came to them we had faith in the other's judgement. That meant a lot to me.

I followed him. Everyone looked slightly more relaxed now. Biggs and CeCe had seated themselves on both sides of their Max, and Alec was standing behind them, his hand resting on Biggs' shoulder, tapping on it, and I thought he must have had a lousy sense of rhythm. Alec was facing our way and his eyes were fixed on me now, and they showed curiosity, which was to be expected, and respect and appreciation, which I didn't understand. My step faltered momentarily, but Alec was already back joking with Kyle.

Michael had gone straight to Maria, a small nod to Max was the only sign he'd changed his mind.

Some of the tension lessened, we quieted again. Explanation time. But the silence stretched once again. It is one thing to know you have to tell people something. Finding the way to actually say it is a very different matter.

None of the aliens knew how to start, and none of us felt it was our place to say anything. Not that I actually knew how to go about saying it without sounding crazy. I looked at Alec again; my eyes seemed to be drawn to him time and time again. He was looking at Biggs and they seemed to be having a whole conversation with their eyes. Finally Alec looked at me and smiled.

"Okay, I'll start. I am X5-494. A genetically engineered super-soldier with feline DNA, part of an experiment conducted by an organization called Manticore and sanctioned by the US government," he said, his eyes fixed on mine all the time. "Who's next?"

Dropping jaws, sputtering laughter and astonished 'what's followed this statement. And it was only the deep down feeling that he wasn't joking that stopped me from joining. Instead, my eyes widened and I couldn't help taking a step back before my own words to Michael that I felt they 're good came back to the forefront.

When the rest realized Alec wasn't laughing, nor were any of the others, their faces went from surprised to curious and scared in a second. But before any of us could say anything-

"Alec!" Maxie exclaimed. I didn't need the wave of surprise and panic that hit me right then to know that's what she was feeling. It was painted on her face for everyone to see. "What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?" She looked about to tear him to pieces.

"It's ok, Maxie," Alec smirked at her. "They won't tell anyone, will you?" He looked at Michael then.

"How did you...?"

"Genetically engineered. Enhanced hearing. Sorry for eavesdropping, but given the givens, I'm sure you would've done the same." Then all the teasing left his voice. "It was the 'strapped to a table and cut open' part that convinced me. I know there's something really weird with you but it can't be weirder than us so ..."

"You think so?" Michael asked then. "How's this? We're aliens."

Maxie's eyes widened. Biggs laughed and CeCe's jaw dropped. Alec just watched Michael. "Prove it."

"You didn't prove you're..." Michael trailed off because he was now talking to the air, Alec was standing beside him, his arm around his neck and his finger poised as if about to strike.

"If I press right here you'll be unconscious instantly," Alec said conversationally. Then went back to his previous seat. "You were proving you're an alien," he said with a raised eyebrow and laughter in his hazel eyes.

"Okay. Everything's fixable," Michael looked at Max, "right, Maxwell?"

Max didn't look particularly pleased but he didn't try to stop Michael. I didn't think Michael would seriously hurt any of them, although that was what he was pointing at.

Michael raised his hand and sent a small blast of energy to the rock to the left of Alec which exploded in a cloud of dust. Next he pointed at the rock Alec was seated on. A blast to the right of his feet, a blast to the left ... and the rock toppled forward, throwing Alec slightly down so that Michael's last blast missed his head by inches.

Alec looked at the smoking hole where his head had been. "Ok, you win, I could kill you with my hands just as easily but I still have to touch you." He didn't look surprised at all. "So... aliens, huh?"

"You didn't need to tell them about us, Alec!" Maxie said glaring at him. "There was no need. It has nothing to do with our being here." She seemed to totally disregard our revelation, her mind stuck in her own problems.

"Maxie --" Alec started but she cut him off.

"Don't call me that," she said stubbornly.

Alec smiled. "Yeah, I know you don't like it when I do, and that's the reason I usually do it, but that's not the case now. In case you've forgotten," he said smiling as if he found his own words very funny, "his name is Max too," he pointed at Max, sitting beside Isabel on the counter stools. "I think Maxie suits you better than him."

Kyle laughed and Valenti gave him a stern look. Alex chose that moment to make his presence known. "We're getting off-topic. We need to know what happened today and what are we going to do about it." Everyone sobered instantly.

"Right. As I was saying, I know we didn't need to tell them, Maxie," a small smile graced Alec's lips and I had the impression this time had been to deliberately make her mad, and that he just couldn't help himself, "but we need their trust because we're gonna need their help if we ever want to go back home. And giving trust is the only way to earn it."

"Oh yeah, and where exactly did you learn that, Alec? Manticore had Human Bonding 101 after we left?" Maxie retorted.

Alec ignored her. "Let's see ... Maxie's right, us being transgenics has nothing to do with this, so I think we can skip our long and detailed story. What about yours?" Alec asked looking at me expectantly.

"Oh, she's not an alien," Max said hastily, seeing Alec's look. "Just Michael, my sister and me."

"But she said she would be on the table too," CeCe pointed out attracting all our gazes. "What? I'm X5 too. We all heard their talk."

Max shook his head softly, bringing himself back to the point. "Right. Er ... Well, we were in the crash of '47 -- wait, do you know about that?"

"What, the weather balloon, Area 51 and all that rubbish?" Maxie asked, her disbelief evident.

"Yeah, that. Except, it's not rubbish. It was us," Michael said flatly.

"Exactly, it was us. We came in the ship that crashed in '47, but we weren't actually born then. We stayed in pods, we're not sure if 'hibernating' or developing, until 1989 when we came out looking like 6 year-olds. We grew with human families," Max's eyes flickered to Michael who was looking away, pretending total disinterest, "and kept our alien heritage a secret until Liz was shot and I saved her life." He looked at me then, a sad smile on his face. The same way he'd been looking at me ever since he came out of the Granolith. We had a big talk pending, we both knew it. But it felt like just a settling of matters, choices had already been made and now our only option was to deal.

"How?" Biggs interrupted my thoughts.

Max looked lost in his own mind still, and Michael seemed to think his permission for this talk was as far as he had to go, so Isabel spoke. "We all have powers. Michael's blasts were just an example. That's his power. Max can heal. And I can go into people's dreams. But we can all manipulate molecular structures. He dissolved the bullet in her body and then healed her wound." She seemed to also get lost in thought. "That's how it all began," she said almost to herself.

Alex took her hand and squeezed gently. "But that's another story. Actually, a whole lot of other stories. The important thing is that what caused all this," he looked at the... transgenics -- the word made a place for itself in my mind, "was the departure of an alien ship."

Maria, who had been following our conversation with only half her mind, the other half on Michael, looked around now. We hadn't gotten anywhere and I wasn't sure there was much we could actually do. "So what happens now?" she asked and I saw Max flinch. But no one said a word.

I closed my eyes and let my mind go blank, a whirlwind of feelings brushed my mind and I just couldn't take it anymore. All morning I had been feeling what the others felt, just bursts of feeling that came and went. A conversation from some time ago flashed in my mind and suddenly I thought I'd figured it out.

Panic threatened to overwhelm me and I fought to keep it at bay. Whatever this turned out to be, panicking over it would not help me. What I needed to do was figure out what was happening to me and why. The how was pretty important too.

I tried to analyse all the information I had in my mind. I had actually been waiting for it since Ava dropped the bomb. But the reality of actually having some kind of weird 'power' was harder to assimilate than I had anticipated. First things first, Liz. When starting a new experiment you need all the data you can gather to work with. But this wasn't the right moment for this. I made a mental note to explore this as soon as possible once things calmed down a bit.

While I'd been lost in thought again the conversation had kept going. I realised someone was talking to me.

"So Max saved you... and now you're turning into an alien?" Biggs asked. The question irked me.

"You have feline DNA, are you turning into a cat?" I turned his question back at him.

"Meow!" Alec exclaimed, laughing at Biggs' expression.

"Actually, she's not," Michael answered them. "Our powers are actually human. When they created us, we were just programmed to be several thousand years ahead of mankind."

After a moment of silence Max cleared his throat and we all turned to him. "Hmm... we still need to figure out what to do now?"

"There's not much we can do, Max." Valenti said, the voice of reason in a sea of wandering teens. "Do we even know what happened?"

Michael stood, facing us all. "We know it must have been the Granolith but we don't know how or why it happened. We've never known enough about anything. We have that book but half of it is gibberish even when in English."

"What do you mean you don't know anything?" Biggs asked perplexed.

"We were supposed to have a protector to raise us and to teach us about our alien side..." Isabel tried to explain, but her words arose more questions than answers.

"Alien side? You have a side that's not alien?" CeCe voiced the question that was apparent in their eyes.

"We're hybrids. Half alien, half human. We're..." Isabel stopped, looking at Max for guidance. Were we telling them everything?

Max nodded and he took care of the rest of the explanation. "We're the clones of Antar's king, his sister and his second in command," he said pointing at each of them in turn. "We were sent here so we'd have a chance to grow and go back to win the war and take back the throne from the man that killed us. We have enemies besides the US government, and some of them followed us here."

The transgenics' jaws were sweeping the floor. Alien royalty was different from just aliens. I knew that. It had been a shock to me too, and I'd known about the alien part for months.

Alec was the first to recover, "So this protector that you should have had... but didn't, I presume... should have ..." He trailed off.

"He should have taught us all this from the start. But we just learnt about it last year. It's been a freaking rollercoaster ever since," Michael said.

"So you don't know much about yourselves... or this thing that happened today," Maxie said. It sounded harsh but I think she didn't mean it like that; she was just making sure she got the facts straight.

"We've never known anything. We've been stumbling upon small bits of information here and there, but we've never gotten a clear picture," Max said almost bitterly.

"Maybe it's time to do that," Jim said softly. "Sooner or later you would've had to do it. This is the perfect moment. You're about to finish school, just three more days, and then you have the whole summer."

"Do exactly what?" Kyle asked his father.

"Gather every small bit we have and look for the way the puzzle fits," Max said nodding. I had the feeling maybe he and Valenti had talked about this before.

"You want to what, take a car and visit any alien related tourist trap?" Kyle said.

Max was looking at Jim. He nodded imperceptibly and turned to Michael and Isabel. Michael was running what they knew and what this implied through his mind, his eyes staring ahead at nothing, lost in thought. Isabel was looking at Alex, who smiled at her. It was obvious he was thinking the prospect for their relationship had changed favourably since last night, that missing her for a summer was a hell of a lot better than losing her forever.

But I wasn't the only one who could read Alex like an open book. "Oh no, if they go anywhere, we're going too," Maria said in a no-nonsense tone, and I agreed whole-heartedly.

"She's right. We're in this together. There's been enough division and misunderstandings already. If we go, we go together," I backed her up.

"I'm all for that." Alex added happily.

"Why not? It's not like I had anything better to do," Kyle shrugged.

"I think I should stay. I can't just disappear, and it would be good to leave someone in the know here, to keep an eye on things," Jim said meaningfully and Max nodded at him. I would feel better knowing that someone was staying too. It could only help to know what's going on here.

"Okay. So we go where?" Alex asked. "The whole tourist traps thing was a joke, right?"

"We go back to all the places where we've found out anything about ourselves but that we had to leave in a hurry then. We go and search every corner. There's got to be something somewhere. And we'll find it," Max said in that tone he used when he'd decided on a path, his king voice. I'd come to really hate that voice lately. But I knew he was only trying to look out for us. It was after all the role he saw as his.

"And what about us?" Alec asked him.

"I know it might take a while, and I'm sorry you're stuck here in the meantime, but I promise you I won't stop until we figure out how the Granolith really works... or what it is... and we know how to send you back." Max looked at the four of them in turn. Meeting their eyes straight on. It always made me feel like he would never fail me when he looked at me like that.

Alec looked at Biggs, his look a mystery to me, but obviously not to his friend. Biggs looked at CeCe eyebrows raised. She seemed to think about something for a moment and then nodded her head once. Biggs looked back at Alec and smiled his agreement to whatever it was Alec had asked him.

Alec's gaze briefly rested on Maxie, but didn't really stay long enough for her to do or say anything before he turned to us again. Alec watched us for a second, his eyes serious. "We'll help you. We don't have anything else to do here. But when you guys find your answers and figure out how to send us back, you won't." He raised his hand to stop us from interrupting him. "Not until we've taken Manticore down."

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Please review!


	3. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews guys!

jace777, I know it must be boring to read things every Roswell fan already knows, but the story is written so that fans of both shows can understand what's going on and enjoy it, and I need to give background info of both shows for that. I hope it's not too boring and you'll keep reading the story.

****

**Chapter 2**

"What!?" was the most popular reaction.

From everyone except for Biggs and Cece, actually.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Max, her face the perfect definition of annoyance and bewilderment, but her eyes couldn't hide the flicker of excitement and curiosity the idea brought in her.

Alec saw it. "Come on, Maxie. Don't go acting like that now. You did it first."

"I did what?" she said, not understanding. She had thought about it, yes, but she hadn't, she would remember ... 'Oh!' Her expression changed drastically. "I did? Really?" Alec nodded smiling. "Wow! Zack must have had a cow," she muttered to herself, feeling strangely proud of herself.

Alec didn't want to burst her bubble just yet. "Yeah, I'm thinking you might have had the right idea, and now is the perfect moment to pull it off."

Jim was shaking his head. "You're talking about going against the government. That's not what these people need, Alec," he told the transgenic.

"First of all," Alec replied, "I didn't say anything about them. WE are going to go against Manticore. And second, I said sanctioned by the government. That doesn't mean all of the government knows about it. The president sure as hell doesn't, at least not now. They have support from a very small committee, very high up there, but still a secret committee. It's the kind of project that whenever it sees the light of day brings down everyone involved. All very hush-hush."

The Roswell group all thought about the Special Unit.

Jim didn't look convinced. "And how do you plan to take them down, especially on your own?"

Biggs laughed. "You just can't imagine what you can do with four X5s."

"Exactly. And we already know how to NOT do it," Alec couldn't help but add.

"But I don't understand," Max Evans said, "why do you want to destroy it?"

CeCe turned to her Max and said in a saccharine sweet voice, "Do you want to tell them how Manticore was such a warm and caring home that you and your unit made a run for it when you were 9 years old?"

"What?!" "Nine?!"

Max glared at Cece for putting her in the spotlight but Alec was glad for it. Of the four of them, Max was the more reluctant one to trust these people. Biggs and CeCe followed his lead, they always had. Alec had always been good at reading people, at identifying threats and allies. He needed Max to trust him too, and Alec felt like getting her to open up and relax a little around all of them was what she needed.

After a moment of silence, Max started to talk. "Yes, we escaped when I was nine. Some of the others were 10, our CO was 11 ... I was the youngest ..." She paused, looking for the way to explain herself.

Seeing that she was willing to talk, Alec decided to help her get started. "What you have to understand is that we weren't children to them. They created us to be soldiers, and that's what we were. From the moment we could stand on our own feet and hold up a gun. We didn't have names and we weren't supposed to have a personality beyond our soldier persona, beyond our training. We were their toys. And branded as such." Alec looked at Max, silently asking her to show them her barcode.

Max walked to the centre of the room and turned her back on them. She pulled her hair up into a bun, baring her tanned and slender neck. She heard the gasps coming from behind her but she didn't pay attention. She was looking at Alec. He had promised her a long talk when she'd asked in the desert. She had so many questions and no answers. And spilling her sad story wasn't what she wanted to be doing. But she had decided to trust them for now. She reserved the right to change her mind once they cleared everything up. Alec returned her stare unflinchingly. She didn't get the vibe that he was lying. She wasn't as good reading people as some of the others, but she'd always relied on her gut instincts.

They turned their attention back to the astounded group of people watching them.

"Is that a barcode?" Alex asked.

"Yes. That's how you label things as your property. That's what we were, their tools. It's encoded it in our genetic make-up so that we can never get rid of it. We can laser it off," Biggs said turning around to show them his neck, "See? But it'll be back in a few days," he explained.

"That is what I was to them. X5 soldier 332960073452." All eyes were back on her, so she spoke. "Life had always been hard at Manticore, but it was all we'd ever seen, we didn't know there was anything else. It was just the way our lives were. One day when I was nine, my brother Jack got sick ... it wasn't the first time, but this time it happened in front of the guards. They took him away. I ... I wanted to know what was happening to him and so I sneaked outside the barracks and into the labs ... And they were dissecting him ..." She couldn't go on. She took a deep breath. "I went back to the barracks and told my siblings what I'd seen. Suddenly, the people we were supposed to obey had turned into the enemy."

Everyone was riveted, hanging onto her every word. Even Biggs and CeCe. Alec was the only one who had heard this story before.

"A few days later I got sick too ... just like Jack. They were dragging me away ... Zack didn't think, he just reacted. He took out the guards and we ran." Max was staring into space, lost in her memories. "I haven't seen any of them since then ..." Her voice trailed off and no one knew what to say to her.

"Their escape made things worse for the ones left behind," Alec said, breaking the contemplative mood that had come upon the group. "Torture and experimentation were upped, they became everyday business. The brainwashing was intensified and it included two new things: THE ESCAPEES ARE TRAITORS and NEVER THINK OF ESCAPING."

His eyes were hooded, dark ... It was the most serious they'd seen Alec until now.

Alec shook his head, snapping out of his slip. "To make a long, horrifying story short, it was hell forced upon children who'd never done anything to deserve it. I couldn't do anything about it then. But I can now. And I am going to," Alec finished.

Silence followed his words. Jim looked at their Max. It had become their way of dealing with things. Max made his opinion known and then the rest reacted. Michael could throw a fit and lately Iz had been right there with him. But still, Max was always the first to talk.

Max knew it, he'd played the role well the last year, but right now he couldn't talk to save his life. Alec's words had brought up memories of torture and experiments of his own. Memories he'd buried as deep down as he could but that were now bombarding his mind. He felt physically ill.

It was Liz's sudden pained expression and muffled gasp that broke him out of his nightmares.

Liz had felt it, like a sledgehammer to the gut. She recognised the feelings at once this time. She'd felt them before, in a flash. Liz tried to not let it show, she didn't want Max or the others to notice, but it didn't work; she couldn't hide it from Max, he had spent all his life watching her. The situation they were in now hadn't changed that.

Max shoved his emotions to the back of his mind again, his worry over Liz a great motivator. But she shook her head imperceptibly. She didn't want him to say anything about it. Max tried to focus on their current situation.

The transgenics had seen the whole interaction. First the deference to Max, even from the only adult in the group, had been evident from the start. They'd realised early on that Max was the 'CO' of the group. Even though everyone had a say. It made sense since he was a king. 'How weird is that?' Alec thought.

They didn't miss either the expression on Max's eyes. They'd been trained from birth to pick up on the smallest details, to swiftly assess a situation and everyone in it, to look for that piece of information that would give them the upper hand. It was second nature to them. There was a story there.

But there was something that Alec needed to clarify.

"Look, we're not asking you for help, I've already said that, but I should have also said that we're not asking for permission either," Alec said clearly, his eyes going from Jim, to Max. "This is something we have to do," he stated.

But it wasn't Max who spoke.

"Yeah ... you have to. And I'm going to help you in any way I can." Michael said, surprising the hell out of everyone. They all thought Michael would be the one to put up the greatest fight, seeing as he didn't even want to tell them.

But the Xs saw something in his eyes too. They showed knowledge. Michael knew what it was like being an abused child. Another story. Alec wondered just how many more they couldn't even imagine.

Michael felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of everyone. He looked away. He didn't want anyone's pity. He didn't need it.

Maria, sitting beside him, moved closer to him, half expecting to feel him stiffen or pull away. But he didn't. He let her get closer and she burrowed against his chest. She wanted to kill Hank with her own hands, if only he were still alive for her to do that, and at the same time she never wanted to let go of Michael ever again.

"So we help," Isabel said. Her temper was never as explosive and unstable as when she thought about Michael in that trailer park with that drunkard. She'd never forgiven herself for not noticing, for not doing something sooner.

"Guys, really-" Alec started, but Max cut him off.

"You help us, we help you. That's how it works, Alec," he said simply, his voice rang with authority.

"Welcome to the 'I-Know-An-Alien-Club'," Kyle smirked, always ready to lighten the mood.

There were smiles and chuckles all around. "Do we get a badge or something?" Biggs asked him.

"No, but if you're **not** lucky you can win a nice glowing tattoo," Alex said, making fun of themselves.

Soon, they had to cut the reunion short. They all had to go home before their parents missed them. Since it was Sunday that meant they'd had some more time, but they needed to get going now.

"We'll meet at Michael's place later today again," Max said looking around at everyone. "We need to start making plans for the trip and everything."

"What about us?" CeCe asked.

"I think it would be better if you stayed hidden for the time being," Jim stated, "at least during the day. This is a small community. New faces get noticed easily-"

"Especially those faces," Kyle said looking appreciatively at the girls.

"... And people talk," Jim finished chuckling and trying to glare at his son at the same time.

"Sure," Alec agreed. "At least during the day," he remarked.

"They can stay with me," Michael offered. When he got shocked looks from almost everyone he added: "What? I'm the only one that has his own place. It's not like you can get them home to meet the parents."

"They could come home with us," Jim said, "but the truth is that they're likely to be less noticeable in Michael's neighbourhood."

"Right. That's it then," Michael finished and they all went back to the cars.

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"So, we're alone now," Max declared, her voice slightly hesitant.

They were sitting in Michael's living room. Michael had left a while ago giving them some pretence, but they all knew it was because he knew they needed to talk. So now the four of them were alone and it was time for their talk.

"Okay. Where do you want to start?" Alec asked her.

"I don't know... How come I took down Manticore? Did I know you guys then?"

"Just me," Alec said, "you and three of your siblings decided to-"

"What? Who?" Max cut him off, the idea of meeting up with her siblings overriding anything else.

"Hmm, Zack led the attack and he took Krit and Syl with you." Alec saw the dreamy eyes and decided to move it along, now wasn't the moment to get lost in family reunions. There were so many things that needed to be addressed. "As I was saying, you decided to take a shot at Manticore. You thought that by taking the DNA lab out you'd give a hard blow to Manticore and it would make things easier on yourselves. But it didn't work. Two of you were taken in." He saw Max about to interrupt again, "You and Zack," he pre-empted her. "And the director decided to start a breeding program to keep producing new soldiers."

"What!?" Max sounded disgusted, making Alec laugh.

"Yeah, that was pretty much your reaction then." He wriggled his eyebrows at her and her eyes widened.

"You!?"

"Yep. I'm your breeding partner."

"No way!" Her face couldn't show any more revulsion if she tried.

Biggs laughed. "Was that her reaction too?"

Alec grimaced. "Yes, that plus a kick to the gut. Can't understand why." He sulked.

CeCe was the one laughing now at the relief on Max's face. "That must have been a blow to your ego, Alec."

"Yes, yes ... we're getting off-track. That's not important history-wise. The point is that you had been in contact with someone Manticore wanted killed so they let you escape, with a tail of course--" He failed to tell her who right then. 'Not the moment', he thought, "to get to him. But instead of doing what they wanted you to, you went public on them. They couldn't let that happen so they closed the cell doors and blew the buildings. A lot of us died that night."

Max didn't know what to say. This wasn't what she'd imagined. She felt the urge to apologise to these people she'd apparently caused so much pain to. She'd heard Alec's comment of what happened after the escape and now this.

"And the rest?" she asked after a pause.

"Well, the facility was in the woods in the outskirts of Seattle, so lots of them went to ground, others went to the city. You lived in Seattle, and you've spent the last year helping out every transgenic and transhuman that popped in your radar."

Max's eyes widened a bit when she heard the word transhuman; Ben's nomalies flashing in her mind. But she didn't have time to ponder about it as Alec was already talking again.

"Things were kinda calm for a while, but in the last month everything went to hell. The NSA had been assigned to covertly erase any proof that Manticore ever existed, which of course included killing off everyone who had escaped from the fire. And to make things even worse, the agent in charge of the op, Ames White, has his own agenda and has made panic spread with the population. He's sold this terrifying image of us and then, when paranoia was running at its highest, he told everyone how to identify us."

"The barcodes," Max filled in, Alec's comment about theirs being lasered off making sense now.

"Yes, the barcodes. People are scared shitless, Max. And you have no idea how bad things are back home. There's been lynchings, Max, masses of people turning into mindless killers. The exact same thing they're so afraid of ... " Alec's voice trailed off.

CeCe scooted closer to Biggs and grabbed his hand. The memory of his near-death experience still made her tremble.

Max noticed and looked inquiringly at Biggs.

"Shortly after the barcode tips, the NSA got a hold of a way to single us out from crowds. I was their first success. I managed to escape their first attempt, but they snapped a shot and showed it on TV. Next thing I know I'm fighting for my life against a mob of ordinaries..."

_"Hang on a sec, Alec." I turned to the black man in behind me. "Yeah?" _

_"You wanna help keep the neighbourhood trannie-safe?" _

_Yeah, sure. "Some other time." I said just as I caught the TV showing my face. The distraction cost me. _

_I fell down with the first blow, but didn't stay down for long. I swept the feet from under the guy with the pipe from the floor and he fell onto the guy next to him. Fighting the dizziness, I kicked a third man, still from the floor, which opened a small hole in the circle of people surrounding me. Grabbing the phone I'd dropped going down with one hand, I lifted myself upside down using the other hand as axis and let my body weight drop onto another man. _

_Clutching the phone, my only means of getting out alive now since I couldn't outrun or defeat the mob gathering around me, I flexed my knees and leaped over the head of yet another bastard. I felt a hand grabbing onto my left foot and heard the yells of 'he's escaping', 'hold the freak' and 'kill the mutant'. _

_But my hands were securely latched to the ledge of the first floor window and I used my right foot to kick at the hand pulling at me at the same time that I flexed my arms, pulling myself onto the thin ledge. I grabbed the window frame and used the bricks in the wall to get to the roof, right above the first floor. _

_I felt rocks hitting my back and legs while I climbed; my progress slower because of my head injury. Once safely on the roof I lifted the phone back to my ear, praying to a god I didn't believe in that Alec would still be on the other end. _

_"Alec?" I breathed out, and smiled hearing a relieved 'Yes!' in the other side._

Biggs looked at Alec, whose face was hard, and knew he was remembering his own experience.

Alec could still feel the tension of the moment. _He'd been riding his bike with only one hand most of the time, the phone clutched to his ear allowing him to hear the whole thing. The excited yells from the mob that almost made his heart stop and the grunts and cries of pain which he was fervently hoping weren't from Biggs._

Biggs spoke again, finishing his story.

_"I'm here, Biggs. Where are you?" Alec said urgently. _

_"I can see your building from here. Right two blocks south of your place. Follow the lynching yells. You can't miss it," I tried to joke. _

_"Can you hold? I'm four blocks away." _

_"I think so. I'm on the roof, but they're starting to climb. Hurry." _

_"I'll see you in a sec. I have your back." _

_I heard the click of the phone going dead just one second before I heard the roar of the engines reach the street and gunshots going off. I half expected to feel the impact, thinking someone in the crowd had finally put two and two together and come up with a gun. But instead the crowd got even louder and spread out, fleeing from the two bikes that had launched themselves into the melee firing indiscriminately. 'Panic can be such a sweet thing,' I thought, perfectly aware that Alec's rifle was shooting upwards. _

_Max's Ninja stopped right below my position and I jumped down, landing somewhat less gracefully than usual. I saw Alec, who had been circling us and keeping the few perseverant rats away, rev up his engine loudly and I held onto Max as fast as I could. _

_In an instant we left the street behind and the nightmare was almost over. I still had to get medical care, my vision was getting blurry now that the adrenalin rush was passing and my injuries caught up with me. I sagged against Max's back. _

_"Hold on, Biggs, we're almost there," I heard her say. _

_I stayed conscious long enough to get to TC..._

Biggs leaned forward and grabbed Max's hand. "I owe you my life, Max. You and Alec saved me that day."

"I'm glad we got there on time." Max said, thinking how strange it sounded to talk about something she hadn't done as if she had. It was so confusing. But the feeling was there, no matter who'd done it.

Max smiled at him and Biggs thought how different this Max was from the one he'd met at Jam Pony.

"So things are really tense now, huh?" Max sighed.

"They can't get any tenser. Less than a week ago, we got involved in a hostage situation. We were about to make it out when White decided to go all out and prove everyone we were monsters by opening fire. There was no going back after that, we managed to get out but ... "

CeCe had seen how Biggs's story had made Max reach out to him and thought that maybe her own story could make things even easier between them all. Anything that helped Max to get to trust them was a good thing.

"White's snipers opened fire to force us to shoot back and then ... "

_The bullet pierced my shoulder and I fell against the person behind me. The group fell back, seeking shelter inside Jam Pony and locking it again. _

_"CeCe!" I heard Alec shout. _

_"I'm hit," I managed to get out through my gritted teeth. "Fuck! What were they shooting? Cannonballs?" _

_Biggs ran up to me and started checking my wound. "Oh shit! What a hole! Alec, a little help here." _

_"Coming," he yelled, coming towards us. Alec kneeled beside me, cursing under his breath, "What, my bullet hole wasn't enough for you? You had to go and get your own?" he tried to joke. _

_They managed to stop the bleeding pretty quickly, thanks to Manticore healing abilities, and dressed the wound. By the time the fight against White's lackeys went down I'd recovered enough to watch Alec's back. _

_Alec and I hid behind one of the pillars, twin wounds in our shoulders, holding our breaths so as to not make a noise. _

_The seconds stretched forever until we heard the noise of breaking glass behind us. Max signed us instructions and we jumped to the ceiling, tensing arms and legs against the beams and waiting for the enemy team to reach our position. My wound was throbbing, the whole arm shaking with the effort. _

_Alec's seemed to hold better, but then his had had hours longer than mine to heal. Still, I knew it must hurt him almost as bad as mine did. _

_Right when I thought my arm would give I saw the shadow of the figure approaching our position. _

_Three, two, one... now! _

_We dropped on her, me first, knocking her to the floor, then Alec a moment later, landing on her back an instant after I rolled away getting to my feet. _

_The woman executed a kip, jumping to her feet, her blue lips tight and ice-cold eyes locked on me, she didn't see Alec's kick to her firearm sending the gun she'd managed to hold onto skidding away until it disappeared under an upturned desk. _

_She angled herself then, to keep us both in her sight. We circled slowly, Alec making his way to stand beside me. The bitch smiled, obviously thinking that would make it easier for her, but in reality she'd just landed herself in a lot of trouble. _

_The moment Alec got into position we mentally counted to three and launched ourselves into a highly complicated series of kicks and punches specifically designed for two transgenics fighting side by side. It had been a long time since we'd used this attack, but even though our respective wounds took some strength from the hits and made our movement less gracefull than usual, we managed to force her into a corner. Hit after hit, though apparently useless on the outside, made its job inside, until she was a bruised and bloodied mass of limbs slumped in the floor, unconscious. _

_"It's been a while since we've fought together, huh?" Alec said breathlessly, wiping his sweaty brow and pressing a hand to his shoulder, the fight having reopened both our wounds. _

_"Yeah, lucky we know each other's moves down to the T, huh? Otherwise that bitch would've had our asses, Xs or not," I said, leaning on him to catch my breath. _

_"Max! Clear!" Alec shouted when he could breathe again, and relieved we heard the rest of our team echoing his call._

Max was speechless again. It had been ten years since she had been in danger of losing a fight. But from what they were saying things were so bad in their time that they were threatened on a daily basis, and that was with Manticore gone. That thought still gave her a thrill.

"We holed up in Terminal City. It's a part of the city that was closed off after the pulse because there had been chemical leaks. Ordinaries can't stay in there so it was where transhumans had sought refuge. Some Xs too. That's where we've made our stand," Alec finished.

"Wow!" Max's brain couldn't get past that. "Just, wow!"

Alec thought it wasn't the moment to tell her about her role or the personal parts of the tale. She had had enough as it was. It was time to lighten the mood again.

"So, all in all, we're pretty happy we met you, Max. You saved Biggs, you gave CeCe the chance to be free ... and you named me." He winked at her.

"I did?" She paused. "Alec ... " Max frowned, thinking, "as in smart aleck?" she asked.

"Yep. Wanna know what your second choice was?"

"Don't know," she said chuckling, "Dick?" Max teased him and she saw the shock on his face. She burst out laughing then. "It was Dick!?"

Biggs and CeCe laughed too. "Some things don't change," CeCe said.

Suddenly Max remembered something. When he mentioned it she'd been so shocked it hadn't really sunk in then. "Hey, you said in your grand opening that your designation's 494. One of my sibling's is 493," she said smiling wistfully. "What a coincidence, huh?"

The other three stopped smiling and Max looked at them confused.

"No, Max. It's not a coincidence. I'm 493's twin. It was the director's twisted sense of humor, you know, pairing you with one of your sibling's twin," Alec said softly.

Max was shocked by the news and Alec had to remind himself that the niners didn't know about the twins, or that they all had clones in the X7 series ... She knew so little. He felt the impulse of telling her everything right then, but she'd received so many shocks already ... He'd tell her another day. It wasn't as if he were planning to never tell her. Just not today.

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Max walked into the Crashdown and looked around for Liz. She was supposed to finish her shift in a few minutes and he wanted to catch her before she went upstairs. They needed to talk and if they were going to go on this trip all together Max thought they should do it before.

She was behind the counter, cleaning it up. Max walked up to her.

"Hi, Liz," he said.

Liz gave him a tiny smile. "Hey, Max."

"Are you almost done?"

Liz looked around herself, everything looked in order and her replacement had checked in 2 minutes ago. "Yes. I just have to change." She made a small pause. "We could take a walk ... and talk," she proposed, knowing that's why he was there.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I'll wait for you out back." And he turned around not wanting to give her the chance to tell him to wait in the back room, and not wanting to give her the chance to not do it. It was better to just leave.

Liz saw him go out the doors and sighed. Everything had turned to hell.

She finished what she was doing and went to change and tell her father she was going out.

Liz found Max leaning on the wall beside the back door, his face grave until he saw her and a small, sad smile curved his lip. They walked in silence for a long while, both lost in their thoughts, strangely at ease with each other.

After all they'd been through together Liz had thought it would take them a long time to get to such a level of comfort with each other. She was pleased to find she'd been wrong.

_Maybe I oughta mention  
It was never my intention  
To harm you or your kin  
Are you so scared to look within  
The ghosts are crawling on our skin  
We may race and we may run  
We'll not undo what has been done  
Or change the moment when it's gone_

They reached the park, still in silence. They were very close, and Liz felt Max's heat in her arm. It gave her comfort. How long had it been since Max's presence had last comforted her?

"I'm not going to try and win you back," Max affirmed simply.

Liz stopped walking and looked at him. All of a sudden she felt overwhelmed by her feelings, and his. It had been such a hard year ...

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She couldn't find the words to express what she was feeling. Max hugged her back. After all the heartache and the loneliness and betrayals; after months of hurting each other intentionally or not, out of good intentions, or to give back pain ... Liz was afraid to hope it was over. But it did feel like they could put it behind them. It was as if Max had had the same revelation as her on his own, and now all that was left was to say it aloud.

When she felt strong enough to talk again she pulled back from him, a sudden gust of air in her cheeks made her realise she had shed a few tears. She wiped them away with her hand, smiling at Max.

"Thank you," she said softly at last.

They resumed walking, bumping shoulders and hips occasionally, feeling a lot lighter. The humming that had been mulling in her head cleared enough for her to recognise it now that her thoughts had slowed down. Liz smiled at the way her mind work.

_I know it would be outrageous  
To come on all courageous  
And offer you my hand  
To pull you up on to dry land  
When all I got is sinking sand  
The trick ain't worth the time it buys  
I'm sick of hearing my own lies  
And love's a raven when it flies_

Liz looked up at Max. "Do you know David Gray?"

Max looked at her, somewhere between surprised and pleased. "The Other Side?" He asked her and she nodded. "I've had that song in my mind all morning," he commented, "it popped when I was telling them about saving your life." Max looked at Liz who was nodding her head again.

She remembered that moment. Max had looked at her and it was when she'd felt for the first time that everything was going to be all right.

_Meet me on the other side  
Meet me on the other side_

Seeing that Liz knew exactly what he meant made Max smile, that shy smile he used to give only her the months after the shooting, when everything was new and untainted. When it looked like all Max cared about was her.

It used to make her stomach do back-flips and somersaults, her knees would go weak and everything around them would disappear.

Now though, it only made her feel relieved. Because they could go back to being the friends they were then.

After a few more moments of silence Max felt like they still should say the things they were thinking, like that would effectively chase the darkness away. "I knew it the moment I saw you after leaving the Pod Chamber," he started. "I saw the change in you."

Liz nodded. It had been a shock to her, too, to see the girl looking back at her when she'd stood in front of her mirror a few days ago. It was as if all that she had been through had left in her a physical mark.

"I never want to go through that again, Max. I've been to hell and back in a way I didn't know it was possible. Even when I told myself it was the right thing to do and that things were as hard on you as they were on me ... I just couldn't make myself care. You hurt me so bad ... "

"I know," Max agreed sadly.

"And it was like something gave inside of me and there was no going back. I've been living my life as 'the third' in a triangle I never wanted to be a part of. I tried to make a clean break last year and you wouldn't let me. You dragged me back kicking and screaming ..." It pained Liz to talk about it and she saw how her words hurt Max, but it needed to be said. "It was a mistake. I made a mistake, Max. I know it now. But it's a mistake I had to make. Because I needed to cut myself from your heart. And to do that I had to stay out of your lives. And it didn't work because I can't detach myself from the group. I don't want to. Not then and not now."

"I don't want that either," Max expressed his relief. "I want you in my life."

"And I want to be there. I want us to be friends. I know it hasn't worked before, but we weren't ready then. Not to give on our love, nor to see ourselves as friends out of a relationship. But we can be. We're a great team, Max. And I want to be a part of all your lives. It's my life too. It's what I am."

"But we'll never be together again," Max affirmed finally.

"I felt so old, Max," Liz said in a low voice. "So old. Some days I didn't have the strength or the will to get out of bed. And I couldn't look at myself in the mirror. I went through the motions because my body knew how to." She made a pause, looking at her feet for a moment. "I need to feel alive again. I need to be the Liz I used to be ... optimistic, full of life and plans, and illusion ... I need to have fun."

"You will," Max said confidently. "I know you'll find your way." He put his arm around her shoulders hugging her to him and Liz laughed.

It wasn't perfect. Things would be weird for a while, probably. Max would always keep that part of his love for her that would hurt for not being with Liz, but he could accept the way things were. And really, what else was there to do? They'd made the decisions and this is where they'd taken them. So they'd move on from here. As friends.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They'd met at Michael's last night as they planned.

Max had explained the disappearance of the Jeep to his parents and that had kept him busy the rest of the day. Liz, Maria and Michael had to work their shifts. Kyle had been at Michael's for a few hours, making sure the transgenics didn't need anything.

Alex and Isabel had spent yesterday together, first at the Crashdown and then his house. She didn't want to be apart from him even for an instant. Which was how they found themselves today in the library, in charge of planning their trip.

Max, Michael and Jim were now going through all of Tess's things. They'd never even seen what she'd kept in her room, and having been raised by Nasedo it was highly possible they could find some things of interest in her belongings.

Liz and Maria were supposed to ask their parents for permission to go on their 'quest'. The rest of them had already mentioned it at their respective homes and the idea had been received quite well. But Amy Deluca and the Parkers didn't know about it yet.

Alex got up from the table to get another road map. The library was almost empty since finals were over. They had made a list yesterday of all the places they needed to visit so he took four different volumes and went back to Isabel who was surfing the net looking for the appropriate vehicle to accommodate eleven people.

Maxie had been adamant about taking her bike. Isabel smiled. The moment they breached the subject of transport Alec had discreetly looked around and counted down with his fingers, timing her outburst perfectly. Maxie said, very energetically, "You can do whatever you want but I'm taking my Ninja".

They'd discussed it a bit, and the latest was that it could be useful to have a fast transport with them. Isabel was thinking they should rent an RV, because they'd have to spend a lot of time on the road and that would be more comfortable. But 11 people in one RV, 'Or 10, without Maxie', Isabel amended mentally, rolling her eyes; they'd probably end up killing each other. Maybe it would be better to get one with space to stash the Ninja, because Maxie wouldn't be able to follow if they took turns to drive and sleep.

And it would probably help to take another car too, to use in the cities. They'd have to talk more about it.

"Look," Alex interrupted her musings, "This road here takes us almost there." He pointed to the map.

Isabel followed his finger, shaking her head. "You know, we're going to need to make up a fake itinerary for the parents. The real one makes no sense, and it's sure to raise questions."

Alex checked the map again. "You're right." He sighed. "Maybe we could just take one of these recommended routes here." He took a travel guide from the table, passing it to Iz.

They spent the whole morning in the library. Isabel made lists to her heart's content: food, clothes, bath stuff, documents, things like cell phones, batteries and other necessities, aliens devices they had and which ones they needed or intended to look for, places to visit, sleeping schedules, the number of socks in each person's luggage...

By lunch time they were starving, both ready to clean up and call it a day. "I think we'll need another car just to take your lists, Izzy," he teased her.

"Oh don't worry, we can just leave the condoms behind, that'll make more room for my lists," she tossed off-handedly over her shoulder.

Alex froze. "Th-the what?" he stuttered.

Iz turned and gave him a wicked look. "The condoms, Alex," she repeated slowly and then licked her lips.

He heard her laugh on her way out. Well, this was an interesting development...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Come on, mom. You haven't even let me finish." Liz begged, her eyes going to her father asking for help.

"Ok, talk. But make it good," he conceded.

"I know it sounds like too much, but it's not, really," Liz emphasized. "This is our last chance to do something like this, dad. You know senior year is going to be really hard for everyone. We won't have time for ourselves. And once we graduate, we'll all go our separate ways, getting ready to start the rest of our lives. This is probably the last summer we have together."

"I know, sweetie, but it's too long and too far away... it's too dangerous," Nancy said.

"Mom, last month Alex had a car accident in his back yard. That's no excuse. If anything has to happen it can happen anywhere."

"Well, yes," Nancy said reluctantly, surprised at her daughter's light use of an experience that had marked them all so strongly, "but if you're all over the other end of the country we can't help you if something happens."

"Mom, we're not little kids anymore. We're all practically adults who can use a phone to call home and ask for help," Liz said, going from exasperation at her mom to desperation at her lack of success. She needed them to agree. She was not missing this for anything.

"But almost all summer, Lizzie," her dad started.

"I was gone all last summer too. You didn't mind then."

"Liz, you were at your aunt's. That was different," Nancy alleged.

"Exactly. This is different. I'm going with my friends, people that you know and love and trust-"

"I wouldn't say I love Max and Michael," Jeff cut her off.

Liz laughed at that. "Okay, you don't love them all-"

"And I wouldn't say I trust the guys either."

"Dad! Stop it. You know them, they're good people. We'll be careful," She promised. "Come on, Jim lets Kyle go. If he, who really knows how bad the world is, can trust Kyle, why can't you trust me?" She was almost whining now.

And then she saw her father's jaw twitch.

"I can't believe you!" she screeched. "How can you be so bad? You're torturing me here." Her parents laughed. "You're so bad." She sulked.

"Sorry, sweetie." Nancy said, smiling at Liz a moment longer before turning serious again. "But keep in mind, that torture aside, you still need to be really careful and call everyday."

"I can go?" Liz launched herself at her parents. "Thank you. You're the best."

"You know, I'd love to be a fly in the Deluca's house now," Jeff said chuckling.

"Oh I don't know," Nancy commented, "Amy has some experience with Maria and these trips..."

TBC

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please review!


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys, sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter. 

**Chapter 3**

Liz paced back and forth in front of Michael's apartment. She'd been debating whether she should talk to him all day. With everything that had happened the last few days, first the whole Tess thing with the baby and then her betrayal, then the transgenics' arrival and the plans for the trip... It had taken her some time to realize the importance of Tess's departure. 

It had hit her this morning, as sudden and powerfully as a punch in the gut. Everything she'd done and suffered to keep Tess in Roswell with the others had been for nothing, they would've been better off if she'd left. 

She'd cried for hours in the shower. Obviously Future Max hadn't known about her alliances since she'd left before they could discover. _Before they'd had a reason to discover,_ Liz realized with an aching pang of guilt. But that didn't mean he'd been wrong about the rest. They could still be facing a war in 2014. Even if the transgenics hadn't mentioned any alien war, meaning that it hadn't happened this time, the Granolith was still playing with time, and as far as Liz was concerned nothing was determined. And they were back to being only three. Their Four Square was incomplete after all. 

Liz knew she had to talk to the aliens. They needed to know. But she wasn't ready to tell Max. They'd finally put their past to rest and bringing the whole thing out again might stir some trouble. What had happened, then and now, didn't change the way Liz felt, she still wanted to be just friends, everything she'd told Max yesterday was still true. She didn't want to risk that Max might not agree with her if he knew about this. 

No, Michael was definitely a better choice. Even though the idea seemed laughable in itself, it made sense to her. 

But then, Michael really wasn't the quiet type. What if he insisted on spilling the whole thing to the others. 

"Grrr..." Liz's frustration was bordering new a new high, and that was saying a lot if you took a look at her life the past two years. 

Meanwhile inside, Michael was sleeping in his bedroom while the transgenics crashed in his living room. Maxie was laying on the couch, not really asleep due to her shark DNA, but trying to get some rest. And the other three were lying on the floor in makeshift beds, some blankets and pillows that the group had dropped off the first day because Michael didn't have enough for everyone. 

The transgenics knew there was someone outside. Biggs and CeCe had already been asleep, but the noise of someone coming to the door and then pacing and mumbling to themselves for almost fifteen minutes had finally awakened them. They weren't all that worried, whoever it was that was outside didn't seemed to be all that threatening, mostly they were now curious. Then they heard the growl. 

"Was that Liz?" Biggs asked in a low voice, he didn't want to wake Michael. 

Alec chuckled. "Yeah, I think so." He went to the door and looked outside. "Never would have pegged her for the growling type," he commented before opening the door. 

"Are you planning on coming in anytime soon?" 

Liz turned around startled. She hadn't heard the door opening. She opened her mouth to answer him but then she took in his appearance. 

Alec was wearing only boxers and a sexy smirk. Liz's mouth went dry. His hair was unruly from having been laid down. His eyes shone in the moonlight, taking a supernatural tinge, and were laughing at her. Liz could see the tan of his skin even in the dim light coming from behind him. She'd seen Max and Kyle without their shirts but she wasn't used to having men in just boxers in front of her. Especially not men this gorgeous. Her eyes roamed his figure of their own volition, from his bare feet, up his toned legs and firm abs, to his knowing eyes. 

Someone cleared their throat inside and Liz felt the burn in her cheeks, her face blushing furiously. She looked past Alec into the room. 

"I... I was..." her voice trailed off, realizing then that the choice had been taken out of her hands. "I came to see Michael." 

Alec stepped slightly aside to let her in, her bare shoulder brushing his chest, sending a shiver down her spine. 

Liz looked around trying to push the image of Alec out of her mind and to force the blush away. The living room looked like a refugees' camp. Maxie looked at her and then closed her eyes again. CeCe smiled at Liz and Biggs hoisted himself up a bit, leaning on his elbows and gave her a sly smile. 

Seeing it, Liz spoke before he could say anything. "Those blankets don't look very comfortable." 

"It's okay. We're used to sleeping pretty much anywhere. Don't worry," Alec said from behind her, reminding her of his presence. 

Liz looked at him briefly before turning hurriedly back to the others. 

He went on. "Of course, Maxie here insisted so politely on taking the couch we couldn't bring ourselves to say no," Alec remarked in a sarcastic voice, sending a mocking glare at her. 

"Suck it up, pretty boy," Max said from the couch, not bothering to open her eyes, making Alec smile kinda fondly at her and Biggs laugh. 

"It's as if we were back home, eh Alec?" 

Alec was about to answer when the door to the bedroom opened. "What's all the noise about?" Michael grumbled and then he noticed Liz. "Liz, what are you doing here? Did something happen?" he let out in a rush. 

Liz shook her head. "No, no, Michael, everything's fine. I just needed to talk to you about something..." she trailed off, suddenly thinking she shouldn't have come. "I'm sorry, it's late, I should have waited until tomorrow, I just--" 

"Liz, breathe," Michael cut her off. 

"It's just that we leave tomorrow and then we'll be on top of each other most of the time, and what I have to say is kinda private..." 

"Okay," Michael said simply, "Let's go in here." He turned back to his room. 

Liz started to follow him but then stopped and turned to the transgenics. "Could you please not listen in?" she asked, not wanting to offend them but also needing to know that her talk with Michael would be private. 

Maxie gave her a quick glare but said nothing. 

"Don't worry, Liz," CeCe spoke up, "we don't go around eavesdropping into people's private conversations for fun. The other day was different, I'm sure you see that?" 

"Yeah, I know," Liz said quickly, "I just..." 

"It's okay. Go ahead, we'll turn on the TV if it makes you feel better. Trust me, they won't have ears for anything else." 

Liz gave CeCe a grateful smile and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Michael had straightened out the sheets so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable sitting on the bed. Liz sat down beside him, turning so they were facing each other. They looked at each other, Michael with curiosity and Liz with something close to apprehension. 

"Well?" Michael said at last, when it became obvious that Liz would need some help getting started. 

Liz had been trying to find the right approach to the story, some way to make him believe her. Finally she nodded to herself, took a deep breath and plunged ahead. 

"First of all, I need you to just listen for a while, okay? Because what I'm going to tell you is really hard for me and if you start interrupting me every two seconds I won't be able to do this. I know you're going to have questions, and I'll answer them when I'm done, just let me get it out first." 

Michael just nodded. 

"Do you remember last October when Max and I had that big fight over..." Liz trailed off, the thought that she didn't know exactly what Max had told the others just then occurring to her. 

"About Kyle?" Michael tried to sound as neutral and not judging as possible. 

"Yeah, that," Liz confirmed it, biting her lower lip nervously. 

"Sure," he said. 

"Right, I don't know what he told you, but I'm going to explain exactly what happened and why. And before you say anything," she hurried on, holding her hand up to stop him from talking, "it is your business and you need to know. At least now you do." 

Liz told him everything, from the moment Future Max had appeared in her balcony, the reason for his trip, how and why he'd come, the trick they'd played on Max to make him believe she'd slept with Kyle, how he'd disappeared... everything. 

When she'd told Maria it had been a necessary relief for her, Liz had been on the brink of having a mental breakdown and she needed someone to talk to. But this time, the feelings she kept receiving from Michael made it harder for her. She'd tried to save herself from the additional stress of telling him by asking him to not interrupt but his feelings were pretty much doing. God, she needed to explore this new empathy thing soon and learn how to control it. At least she hoped she could control it. 

His initial disbelief, though understandable, had been fleeting, disappearing early on. Now a mixture of anger and immense gratitude kept washing over her. 

It took longer that she'd anticipated because once she started talking she just let it all out, not sticking to the facts as she'd intended to, but letting him know how the whole thing had weighed on her, how she felt. She'd been on the verge of tears a couple of times, surprising herself. Liz was so sure that she'd dealt with this particular aspect of her past. Maybe it was the addition of Michael's feelings that made it more raw than it usually felt. 

When she finished they both stayed silent for a moment. 

"So let me get this straight: Max came back from the future, the year 2014, to ask you to make this Max fall out of love with you so that Tess wouldn't leave town because we need her to complete the Four Square so we can defeat our enemies on the war he'd just lost. Thus avoiding the end of the world not to mention the death of some of us." 

Liz just nodded. 

"You know," Michael said conversationally, "if I didn't have four people that had just travelled in time with the Granolith in my living room, there's no way in hell I'd believe all that." Michael sighed. "Is that the reason you seemed to believe in them so easily?" 

"Not exactly, there's something more but I think this is enough for tonight, don't you? We'll deal with that when we're all together." 

Michael scratched his eyebrow, thinking. "Are you _positive_ that it was him?" Michael asked, needing to make sure. 

"It was, Michael. I didn't want to believe it at first, but it was him." 

"I can't believe he didn't come to me!" Michael's voice rose a bit, startling Liz 

'And there's the anger again', Liz thought, relieved to confirm her intuition that it wasn't her he was mad at. 

"How could he do that? Burden you with that knowledge, that choice. He should've come to me, damn it, I'm his second. He's supposed to trust me," he muttered. 

"He does, Michael. I know you've had differences this last year but you have to know that Max trusts you," Liz affirmed forcefully, sensing that he knew it deep down but he was too upset right now. "But you're right. He should've gone to you, since he couldn't go to himself... and I probably should have too. We just weren't thinking clearly then. You should have seen him, Michael, he was desperate, and so broken. And I wasn't all that much better. I'd been a breath away from breaking down and going back to him and suddenly I have to help Tess to get with him, I just..." 

"It's okay, Liz. I understand." 

They fell silent again. Liz felt exhausted, recalling that particular incident was like getting on an emotional rollercoaster, and then inviting Michael for the ride. 

"So we need a fourth to defeat Khivar," he commented thoughtfully. 

"I think we'll need Ava," Liz offered, "I've been thinking about it and it looks like the most logic solution. We'll have to look for her... maybe when we get back." 

"Or while we're gone," Michael proposed, "but at least we have a bit of time for that, right? He said 2014?" 

"Yes. We should concentrate on the current situation first," Liz agreed. 

"Wait a moment, you said this Future Max and our Max couldn't come into contact or they would both be destroyed?" Liz nodded. "Then we have to tell the transgenics. they need to know if they're going to Manticore. They'll probably be there, right? Their present shelves?" he guessed. 

"I suppose. They didn't say how old they are," Liz said. 

Michael made to get up and then changed his mind. "Who knows about this, Liz?" 

"Just you and Maria," she explained, "I never told Kyle why I needed his help, and... I've never talked about it with Max." 

"But are you going to?" 

"I don't know... I don't want to. Not now. Maybe someday..." she trailed off. 

Michael wasn't so sure about that but he felt that he owed it to her to let her decide. Liz had told him how she'd know they needed to know as soon as she'd realized the Four Square was incomplete again. And that was all that mattered to Michael. He still couldn't believe how much she'd sacrificed for them, for him. 

Liz stood, intent on going back out and explain what she knew of time travel to the transgenics when Michael's hand in her arm stopped her. 

"Liz, hmmm... I want you to know how much it means to me what you did," Michael got out, feeling pretty uncomfortable opening up but still the urge to thank her too strong to ignore, "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life." 

Liz smiled and, acting on an impulse, hugged him. She felt Michael tensed, surprised, and his discomfort reached her. She let him go and stood back up. 

"You're welcome, Michael." 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

The TV was on a music videos channel, Alec and Biggs were glued to the screen, watching a group of scantily dressed girls shake their bums suggestively to the rhythm of the music. 

CeCe had gotten up from her 'bed' and had gone to sit on the couch with Max, who had sat up, her arms around her legs, her head resting on her knees, and they were talking amicably. The girls looked up when Michael and Liz came out, but the guys kept watching the TV. 

"You done already?" CeCe asked Liz. 

"Not exactly. I've talked with Michael about something that happened to me this last year and we've realized we need to tell you guys about it." 

"I thought it was private?" Alec said without looking up, obviously listening even though it didn't show. 

"It is private, and I don't want to go into any personal details but it concerns you." 

That caught all their attentions. Biggs turned off the TV and they all sat down around the couch. CeCe moved away, making room for Liz if she wanted to sit. She did so and then let Michael speak. 

"Turns out you're not the first ones to travel in time with the Granolith," he started. 

The four transgenics looked at Liz surprised, but she didn't say anything, just nodding. Seeing as she hadn't been able to keep the emotional part of the tale to herself when telling Michael, Liz had decided it was safer to let him do the talking. 

"Last October," Michael went on, bringing everyone's attention back to himself, "a future version of our Max came from the year 2014 to ask Liz for help changing what had happened in his past... our future." Michael frowned, the whole thing too weird for him. 

"So that's why you had less trouble adjusting to us than the rest of them," Biggs guessed, addressing Liz who nodded. 

"The why and what she did is not important... for you," Michael clarified, "but this Future Max told Liz that he couldn't come into contact with his 'present version'", he said, making air quotes. 

"He said it was something about quantum physics," Liz explained, "He wasn't sure how it worked exactly. A friend had explained to him that if they came into contact they'd both be destroyed. Future Max was very careful that Max wouldn't see him." 

"But this Future Max saw Max?" Alec asked, they needed to be very clear on this, there was too much at stake. 

Liz searched her memory. Not that it took her too much effort. Those few days were etched in her memory. "Yes, Future Max saw Max." 

"All right, tell us exactly what happened," Alec saw Liz panic and he hastily clarified, "I'm sorry, we don't want the personal stuff. But this is too important. You know, just tell us the physical part." Michael scowled and Liz blushed. Alec chuckled. "That didn't come out right. I mean, where was Future Max when Max was with you, or when he saw Max, that kind of thing. I don't need to know what he told you or asked you to do." 

"Yeah, okay, I can do that," Liz said relieved. "Well, Future Max appeared in my balcony. He came inside my room and told me that Max was on his way to... talk to me, and we both went back out when we heard Max calling me. I want to the railing and Future Max stayed a few steps behind so that Max couldn't see him." 

"But Future Max heard Max talking?" CeCe interrupted her. 

"Yes, they were both talking to me, Future Max heard Max," Liz confirmed. "Then the next day Future Max and I were in the office where I worked while Max was across the street sitting at a table outside the Crashdown. We were... spying on him. We could see Max but we didn't hear him. But then, something must have tipped him off because he looked toward us and came to the office. Future Max hid in the inner office while Max was in the reception talking to me." 

"So they were really close to each other but didn't see the other one," Biggs stated. 

"Actually, I think Future Max could see Max from where he was hiding," Liz elaborated. 

"Then physical proximity doesn't have any effect. And I don't really see any scientific difference between auditory contact and visual contact," CeCe opined. 

"Maybe he was misinformed and nothing would happen," Biggs ventured. 

"Now that we're analyzing it with a clear head, it doesn't make much sense that they needed to see each other at the same time to provoke a reaction," Liz said thoughtfully, "I mean, they did come into contact." 

"Still, there's a big risk, I mean, are you guys born already?" Michael asked. 

"Yes, I'm about two and a half, Biggs is around two, CeCe is almost two also and Maxie is just one," Alec couldn't help his smile at the thought of kick ass Maxie as a small baby. 

"So, are you willing to risk the chance that it will destroy you?" Michael insisted. 

The transgenics didn't have to think too much about it. 

"Yes. It's worth it," Alec said seriously. 

"Yeah," CeCe agreed. 

"It would really be worth it if the rest of my family got to be safe and together," Maxie added wishfully. 

"Exactly. I'd rather die than let myself, and the rest, go through the hell that awaits them. If it kills me, it still saves a lot of them. I say we risk it," Alec said. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

They stopped the cars on the plain at the feet of the hill. They were supposed to be on their way to Las Cruces where the RV they'd rented was waiting for them. But they had two stops to make before setting out on this road trip of theirs.Jim had offered to take some of them in his SUV since they didn't all fit in Tess's. The first option had been the car Alec and the others had been driving when they 'landed' in this time, but the model of the car was one that didn't exist yet in 2001 so they had parked it in the garage of the Valenti's and had taken Tess's instead. They had decided it was the more appropriate out of all of their cars to take on this trip because none of the parents would miss it and they were supposed to be only seven people, not eleven; but it had taken some serious exorcizing first. 

Both cars and Max's Ninja were loaded with their bags and a little extra 'package'. 

The group walked up the hill slowly, the path was covered with small rocks and gravel which made the trek difficult. The transgenics were the only ones who didn't constantly stumble on the sliding ground, finding their footing with the natural security of their animal relatives. A short time later the twelve of them got to the top to find... 

...nothing but a pile of rocks and debris where the Pod Chamber used to be. 

The three aliens stood there, staring at the ruins of the only place that connected them with their alien past. This was where they'd heard the message from their mother, where Isabel had retreated to when she'd hit the bottom after killing Congresswoman Whitaker... they'd felt a connection to this place ever since Tess had showed it to them, and this was where their pods had resided all these years. 

Looking at the destruction left in Tess' wake they felt as if she were having a last laugh at them, as if they'd just lost their real home. In Michael's case, the first home he'd ever had. 

"Well?" Maxie broke the contemplative silence, "I thought you were going to 'look' for the answers," she urged them on. 

The spell broken, and with a careful look around making sure there was no one watching, Michael started to clear the rocks blocking their immediate path with blasts. The sheriff had been keeping an eye on this place the last few days to see if anyone came looking for something, but if the departure of Tess had raised any alarms, no one had been curious enough to come all the way here to check it out. Still, Michael wanted to be sure. 

"That's handy," Biggs chuckled. 

"Yeah, I thought they were gonna ask us to lift those for them," Alec commented. "It's hard to get used to this alien powers thing..." 

Maxie and CeCe were watching closely the small explosions, still not used to seeing alien blasts. Michael kept sending small bursts of energy to rock after rock, making them explode into dust. When he came to a really big boulder, Michael sent a more powerful blast, intent on pulverizing it too, but the blast wasn't enough to turn all that rock to dust, instead, blowing it into small projectiles that shot off in every direction. 

Everyone covered their faces, throwing themselves to the ground, shrieking in surprise and fright...except Liz. She froze, seeing a particularly big rock flying straight to her, her mind went blank and her eyes grew huge, time slowing down. 

Suddenly something slammed into her from behind, the ground rushed up to her but just before she smashed her face she was turned around, landing on a hard body. 

A moment later, the scare already past, everyone got to their feet. CeCe offered her hand to Liz, to help her up, and once standing , Liz looked down to see Alec lying on the ground, leaning on his elbows and smiling at her. 

"Thanks," Liz said embarrassed. 

"No problem," he replied, getting up. 

Michael glared at what was left of the boulder, some gravel and a lot of dust, and then turned to the group, "Sorry." 

Kyle looked at Liz and frowned. "You really need to learn to duck," he jokingly scolded her, causing everyone to laugh and Liz to blush. 

Maxie, who had been looking around, spotted a strange looking shape in the distance and using her enhanced vision focused on it. She could see it clearly now, but that didn't help her identify it. 

"What's that?" she pointed in its direction. 

The whole group followed her finger but only the transgenics could make out what she was talking about. 

"These things you're looking for, er...pods? What do they look like?" Alec asked. 

"Er... big, disgusting-looking, greenish, things?" Maria offered. 

"Very helpful, Maria," Michael smirked. 

"Well, according to that astonishingly accurate description, I think Maxie's found one," Alec said stepping over a big rock, following Maxie who was already on her way to the 'thing' she'd seen. The rest followed them. 

It was indeed a pod, and the rest were close to it. They were half-buried in the middle of the wreckage and they'd sustained quite a bit of damage, especially Isabel's, which had already been broken to make the passage to the Granolith Chamber. But all in all they were still there. 

They all worked on digging them up, putting great care into cleaning them as much as they could. Clearing the space around them, they laid the pods on the ground and stood forming a circle around them. 

"What are we going to do with them?" Michael asked. 

"I'm not sure," Max replied, "It's not like we can take them with us. They're a lot bigger than the orbs or the stones. We can't just put them in a box and stash them in a closet," he voiced what they were all thinking. He turned to Isabel to ask her what she thought and noticed she was rubbing distractedly her arms as if she were cold. "Iz, you ok?" 

"What?" she seemed to snap out of her thoughts, "hmm, yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing." 

"So, any thoughts on what we should do now?" Michael reminded them both. 

Isabel looked around. "It's too bad the cave's gone. They've always been safe there." She sighed before looking back to the pods. She clenched her hands into fists and then opened them a few times, almost like when they fall asleep and you're trying to get the blood circulating again. 

Alex pulled her close, "Are you sure you're okay?" 

Isabel blushed slightly, nodding her head. "It's nothing, really..." she trailed off. 

Max didn't believe his sister, he knew her too well, "What is it, Iz?" 

"It's just..." Isabel doubted herself for a moment before shaking her head, "It's silly, really, but it feels like... my skin is tingling." 

Michael's face showed relief, "Thank God, I thought I was losing it," he exclaimed. 

"You too?" Maria asked him. 

"Yeah, I just felt stupid and didn't want to say it," he said. 

Max smiled at his _brother_'s bluntness, "But we've never felt anything like this before," he added, admitting he too had felt it. 

"Like what exactly?" Alec asked. 

"Like static electricity," Michael ventured. 

"Yeah, like the air is charged or something," Isabel added. 

"I don't feel anything," Biggs said. 

"Maybe it's an alien thing," Jim offered. 

"But it can't be the pods, you've never reacted to them before," Liz reasoned. 

"I thought there was nothing else here but the pods and the Granolith," Alec said. 

"So did we." Max looked around, looking for anything he might have missed before. 

"Well, if it's not the pods and Tess took the Granolith..." Alex left the sentence hanging. 

They all looked around this time, scanning their surroundings. 

Finally, Liz broke the silence. 

"Maybe she didn't." 

"What?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"What are you talking about?" 

Max shook his head, "Liz, the Granolith is gone, Tess got inside the cone and left in it." He had been the only one left inside when Tess had somehow transferred to the inverted cone. 

"Yes, she took the cone... but think about it for a moment, Max. It doesn't make any sense for the Granolith - something so important that the skins spent 50 years looking for it, and Khivar refused to negotiate anymore when you wouldn't give it up - to be just a spaceship. Why would Khivar want it that badly if that's all it is?" Liz argued. 

"You know, Maxwell, she has a point," Michael agreed. 

"So you think the Granolith is still here?" Max asked Liz. 

"Yeah, I do." 

The group looked at each other and then around themselves, again, as if expecting one of them to pull the mysterious granolith from behind their backs. 

"So we're back to square one," Max realised, his voice defeated, "How can we protect something we don't have or even know what it is?" 

"Well, I don't know about that, but we can't leave the pods like that," Maria reminded them. 

"No, you're right. We should at least cover them with rocks or something," Max looked at Michael and Isabel and they both nodded. 

They all started piling rocks around the pods, the transgenics lifting the heavier ones, making a kind of fence around them. Once done, they hesitated, not wanting to put rocks directly over the pods for fear to damage them. 

"Wait a moment," Jim said suddenly and went back to his SUV and took a blanket from the trunk, then running back up again. 

He spread the big cloth over the pods. It was big enough so that the edges got to the fence of rocks around them, and since it was higher than the pods it formed something like an artificial cave for them. Jim stepped back to admire his handiwork. 

"If only it were solid..." he suggested. 

"That's easy to fix." Max put his hand on the blanket and the material turned into some kind of metal, spreading from under his hand and through the whole blanket. 

"Geez," CeCe exclaimed, "somehow that's freakier than the blasts." 

Maria laughed, "You should see what Izzy does with her 'look'". 

They went back to pile rocks over the new metallic surface until the whole thing was covered, the final result looking like a low stage or platform. 

They stared at it. It was a bank of rocks on top of a hill completely covered but them. It was more regular looking than the rest, but it didn't stand out all that much, especially not from afar. 

Michael cocked his head to the side, thinking, and then he approached the new 'Pod Chamber' and got on top of it. He started rearranging the rocks, adding some more here and there. Finally, he stepped back down and went back to stare. 

The others had been watching him, not knowing what to make of his actions at first, but soon his goal became apparent. 

Biggs looked at Michael, smiling, "It's close," he said appreciatively. 

Maxie, who didn't know what he'd done, asked, "Close to what?" 

"To the way it looked before," Max answered her simply. 

Michael watched the new rock formation, happy with the result, "Yeah, it's close enough." 

Kyle looked to the cars and back to the group. "It's too bad we have no way of making sure no one digs them up once we leave." 

Isabel thought about that for a moment before shrugging, "We could try to... 'seal' it, or something." 

The three aliens walked up to the formation and put their hands on it. They concentrated on sealing the rocks together, not sure how they wanted it to work, more like letting their instinct guide them. Their hands glowed and their faces scrunched in concentration, but then something 'clicked' and they knew it had worked. 

They withdrew their hands, and were about to step back, when Max suddenly put his hand back on it and closed his eyes, letting out a burst of energy. 

When he took it away, there was a silver handprint glowing on the rock surface. 

"What did you do?" Michael asked him. 

"Not sure," Max breathed out. He waved his hand over it and the handprint disappeared. Max looked at Michael and nodded to the hidden mark. 

Michael waved his hand over the spot and the handprint reappeared. "Cool." 

"I think we can seal it and unseal it again with this," Max said, somewhat perplexed. 

"This kind of thing happens a lot?" Alec asked from behind, "You know, the 'I-don't-know-how-I-know-but-I-know-I-have-to-do-this' thing?" 

"Sometimes," Michael shrugged. 

"Well, at least we know now that they're safe again, and I can keep watching the place while you're gone," Jim offered. 

Max, Michael and Isabel nodded at him, feeling better about leaving now. The group made their way to the cars. It was time for the next stop. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Alec saw Max speed by the SUV, Kyle riding behind her, and smiled. It had been a while since she'd last taken him in her Ninja back home but he always loved to ride with Max. It felt like flying. 

He tuned back into the conversation going on in the car. Max was driving Tess's SUV, with Michael at his side, and Liz and Maria were sitting in the back with him, Liz in the middle. 

"...I'm just glad we didn't keep the rest of our alien stuff in the Pod Chamber," Michael was saying, "We used to say it would be safer since no one but us could get in." 

"Did you guys bring all of it?" Maria asked. 

"Yeah, everything we've gathered these two years and a few items we found in Tess's things," Max said. 

"So, what are these alien orbs and stones you mentioned earlier?" Alec asked Max, eager to hear anything alien related. 

But it was Michael who answered. "We don't have much." He took a wooden box from under his seat and passed it to Liz. "That's pretty much everything." 

Liz took the box and placed it on her lap. It was heavy and dark, made from ebony, and it had a carving on the top. Liz traced the symbol softly, looking at Michael curiously. It was one of the symbols from the cave in the reservation where they were headed now. Two flattened semi-circles around an oval shape. 

"I made it," Michael shrugged self-consciously. 

Liz opened the lid. Inside were a few cloth covered bulges. Liz took one of the two bigger shapes and unwrapped it revealing one of the orbs and handing it to Alec. 

Alec took the strange object with one hand, weighing it carefully. It was made of some kind of metal, really smooth and silver coloured, and it had a blue symbol on it. "What is this?" 

Michael pointed to the other one still covered inside the box, "They're some kind of communicators. We call them orbs because, well because they look like orbs. They stored a message from our planet but that's all we know." 

"And the drawing?" 

"That's the symbol of our home, the Whirlwind Galaxy," Max told Alec, looking at him in the rear-view mirror. 

Liz took the orb back and carefully wrapped it again, placing it inside the box with the other. Next she took a black pouch. It was made of leather and it looked smooth and worn, the same as the strip that kept it closed. Liz unfastened the knot and took a round pebble of something looking like amber from inside. 

"This is a healing stone, well, at least that's what we call them. They're used to restore the energy balance of their bodies. There are five of them." 

Alec nodded at her and Liz put it away. Then she pointed to a key sitting in a corner, "That key belonged to a man who met their so-called protector and wrote a book about aliens. It opens a secret room in his house." 

"That brings some memories, right Spaceboy?" Maria beamed and Michael winked at her. 

"What's this?" Liz asked then, bringing Max and Michael's eyes to her. She was holding a small black flattened pentagon with more symbols on it. 

"That was Brody's, he said he bought it from a guy that dealt with alien stuff, but he thought it was junk. Turns out it's not. It neutralizes our powers when it's on," Max explained. 

"Knocks us out on our asses too," Michael grumbled. 

Liz recognised it now. She hadn't actually seen it before, but she'd been told about it. "And how is it that you have it then?" 

"After he held us hostages," Max started, and seeing Alec's surprised face he added, "He's been possessed by a friend of ours a few times and he freaked out, long story," he turned back to Liz, "Tess mindwarped him to forget the whole thing, remember? Well we took advantage of that and took it with us." 

Liz let it back in the box, and took a small piece of metal and gave it to Alec. 

"Close your fist," Michael instructed. 

Alec looked bemused at the piece in his hand but did as he was told, feeling the metal bend and squeeze in his fist, like a piece of paper would. 

"Now open it," Michael said. 

Alec opened his fist and saw with no little shock how the metal expanded, going back to its original form, no trace of having been touched on its sleek surface. "What the--?" 

"Cool, isn't it?" Michael smirked, "That's from the crash. Part of the ship. One of the soldiers who was assigned to the site in '47 gave it to me a while back. Ironic, huh?" 

"Wow!" Alec exclaimed, placing it back in its place. 

Liz took something from her pocket then. "I brought this to give it back to you," she said softly, "it belongs here." Her eyes went to the rear-view mirror and found Max's. He nodded at her. 

"What's that?" Alec nudged her, wanting to see it. 

"A pendant. It's the first thing we found." She showed it to him and Alec recognised the symbol on it. 

"The only thing left in there is the book and its translation," Michael added, "it's at the bottom, under a cloth." 

Liz took the other objects out again, now noticing the uneven surface under them. She pulled the cloth off and took the book, leaving the translation inside. She handed the book to Alec, who was checking the drawing in the cover. It was the same as the one on the lid of the box. 

"Okay, I'm starting to sound repetitive even to me but, what is this?" 

"The Destiny Book," Maria spat. 

Alec looked over at her surprised. Maria seemed like the bubbly, always happy one. "Destiny?" he asked, the word reminding of about Max's runes. 'Later,' he told himself. 

Max interrupted his thoughts. "It's like a manual. It says how we were created and from whom, on the alien part. It had the instructions for the ship Tess took... and it said how we were supposed to pair up: me and Tess, Michael and Isabel," he explained. "Tess used to go on and on about how it was our destiny and shit like that. That's were it got its name. You can imagine why Maria might disagree?" he ended teasingly and Maria snorted, making the rest laugh. 

"Very funny, girlfriend." 

"I also brought my diary," Liz said, bringing them back to topic. 

"Diary?" Alec smirked, obviously amused by the girly behaviour. 

"Journal," Liz amended quickly, blushing slightly, "My scientific journal." She ignored Maria's chuckle. "I've recorded everything alien related that's happened the last two years. I thought it might be useful." 

"I'm sure it will," Michael offered innocently. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

The Ninja was parked in the shadow of a tree beside the road when the two cars stopped, and Max and Kyle were sitting beside it, leaning on the trunk. 

Alec took one look at Kyle and couldn't help but laugh, "Enjoy the ride, Kyle?" 

Kyle stood up. "She's a danger to the public. I had never seen anything like it. I swear a few times we almost didn't make it... I loved it!" he exclaimed happily. "I want one of those, dad." 

Maxie laughed with the rest of them. That edge of awareness, of being always on guard, had been dimming the last few days. She was starting to relax around there people... and it felt kinda good. 

The group started the trek up the mountain to the cave where they'd healed Michael. They had argued about talking to River Dog again first, but in the end they decided they'd rather not alert anyone to their presence and, anyway, River Dog seemed to have told them all he wanted to say, be that all he knew or not. 

They found the cave with relative ease. Those who hadn't been there before where struck speechless to see the painting on the wall. 

"Wow!" Kyle exclaimed, whistling his appreciation, "why hadn't we seen this before?" he asked, gesturing to him and his father, including him in his question. 

"We've only been here twice ouselves," Michael replied, his mind going back to the only time _he _had been here and why, his eyes fixed not on the wall but on the circular drawing on the ground, in the middle of the cave. 

Maria grasped his hand and squeezed, also remembering the terrifying incident. It had probably been the first time she'd realized how much Michael meant to her. 

The transgenics were staring at the symbols in the drawing that adorned one of the walls. The cave was dark, and the others had lit some torches so they could see, but of course the Xs had no such problem. 

"Zane loved the Encoding and Cryptography lessons..." Max said suddenly in a soft voice, "he excelled at them." 

Alec, standing beside her, put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her slightly closer to him and was surprised when she accepted his comforting gesture. 

Biggs noticed Evans pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil from his pack and sitting down in front of the drawing. He went to stand right behind him, watching Max reproduce the symbold on the paper. "What does it say?" he asked. 

"We don't know. We have no knowledge of this language, and until now, no way of reading it. But now we have the translation of the Book, maybe we can figure out what Nasedo wanted to tell us with this," Max explained. 

"Any why do we care?" Michael spat, "he was a traitor. We're not trusting anything he says, are we?" he demanded. 

"Relax, Michael," Isabel soothed. "Of course we're not gonna trust him, but it won't hurt to know what he wanted." 

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Alec parroted the old lesson. Off their stares he shrugged nonchalantly. 

CeCe turned to Isabel, since she was the closest, "Can I..." she made a gesture as if to touch the wall. 

"Sure," Isabel said. 

Everyone watched as CeCe ran her fingers over the first symbol, tracing the outline, her touch barely there. They all looked at the map as if waiting for it to turn into English, or to start talking. "What are they made of?" she breathed out. 

"I don't know, he probably made them waving his hand... or with a glowing finger, you know a la E.T.," Isabel guessed, "it looks like dry mud but it's permanent." She turned to her brother. "Why are you drawing it again?" 

"Yeah, Max. Didn't you have it already?" Liz added. 

Max raised his head, "Yes, it's in my pack. But I drew that one from memory, I thought maybe I'd get a more accurate drawing if we're gonna try to translate it, and..." he seemed to doubt for a second before going ahead, "seeing how things are going, I thought maybe it would stir something...you know, in me, or something." Max put the finishing touches to the drawing, using a different color for the slots where the healing stones fit. Then he stood. 

"Now what?" Jim asked, his eyes still studying every corner of the alien-y cave. 

"Now we try to get some answers from this place," Max anounced. "Michael, did you bring the box?" When Michael nodded, "Take the stones." 

Michael did as Max said and passed the leather pouch to him. max took out the heling stones, placing each one in its place on the wall. Like the first time, the stones lit from insede, glowing bright and forming the V constellation. 

The group held their breaths. Some because it was a beautiful sight, others because it was like nothing they'd ever seen before... the aliens expecting something, anything else to happen. 

When it became obvious that nothing else was happening, they sighed disappointedly. 

"We can try to connect with them?" Isabel half asked, half said. 

"It's worth a try," Max shrugged. 

"There's only three of us and five stones, "Michael pointed out, "who gets which?" 

Max went straight to the lowest stone, his hand covering the vertex of the V, and Isabel and Michael each turned towards one of the highest. 

They closed their eyes and let their minds go blank, opening themselves to a possible connection to the glowing stones. 

The seconds turned into minutes and still nothing happened. Finally, Michael sighed and stepped back, the other two following behind. 

"Nothing?" Liz asked. 

"Nope, not even a residual impression of the last time they were used or even just held," Max sounded somewhat defeated. 

"I don't care," Isabel surprised everyone, "it still feels good to be actively looking for some answers. We've never done that before. It doesn't matter if this didn't work, something else will. I'm sure of it." 

"That's the spirit," Alec said jovially. 

"What's next?" Kyle asked. 

Max looked around the cave, "Just because we don't see anything else it doesn't mean something isn't there. We should try waving our hands over the walls," he suggested. 

The rest of the group gathered in the middle of the cave, over the circle on the ground, and Max, Michael and Isabel spread around the chamber and started waving their hands over the wall, top to bottom, walking to their right in a clockwise motion. 

Their movements were slow, not wanting to miss anything making sure to cover every inch of the cave walls. They'd almost finished going around the whole cave when Isabel gasped. 

They all looked at her. She was staring at the wall in front of her where a silver handprint had appeared, exactly opposite to Nasedo's map. Everyone assembled behind her. 

"Go ahead, Izzy," Max urged her. 

Isabel pressed her hand to the glowing mark. At first nothing happened. Then, more symbols started to appear, in the same colour as the handprint. Barely there traces that turned bit by bit into four oval shapes forming the four square, joined by two crossing lines going over the handprint. The figures became clearer and clearer, until the glowing stopped, the resulting picture perfectly recognisable. 

Max made to pull out the other drawing from his pack, intent on copying this one too, but stopped again when more lights started to appear. 

A line of symbols appeared around the four square, one after the other, until they formed a perfect circle around it. 

After a pause to make sure nothing else appeared, they all moved closer to the wall. Some of these symbols were familiar to them, forming part of the map behind them. Others were new to them. But the group from Roswell weren't looking at them now. All their eyes were fixed on the Four Square. 

"Maxwell?" Michael's voice sounded hesitant. 

"I know," Max uttered in disbelief. 

Biggs, CeCe and Max looked from one face to the next, aware that they were missing something. But Alec was studying the symbols. "Hey, er... aren't those things like that orb you showed me in the car?" he asked frowning, trying to decide if they were indeed what he thought. 

Alec's question seemed to snap everyone out of their thoughts. 

"But there's four there," Isabel exclaimed. 

"And they're not all the same," Alex pointed at the two orbs in the bottom, "the top ones are just delineated and have the Whirlwind Galaxy symbol on them. The bottom ones are wholly silver except for the central drawing, the V constellation." 

"So we have to find two more orbs," Max finished. 

"Really?" Maria asked sardonically, "And how exactly are you planning to do that?" 

Before Max could answer, Biggs interrupted, "How did you get the ones you have already?" 

Max mumbled something they couldn't catch even with their transgenic hearing and they saw Liz blush, the rest snickered and chuckled. 

"OK," Michael spoke up, way too happily for the situation they found themselves in, "Guys, you know what this means. Boys, form a line. Liz, start kissing us all." 

"Oh God, Michael!" Liz whined, her face hidden behind her hands. 

"Michael Guerin!" Maria smacked him, "How dare you?" 

tbc 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Please review!


	5. Chapter 4

Hi everyone, here's the next chapter. The italics in the first part (Alec's POV) mean it's a flashback. Enjoy! 

**Chapter 4**

_Alec's POV_

Michael had taken over Evans driving the SUV and Biggs had gotten in the back with me, so it had been the four of us alone for the drive from Las Cruces, where we'd said goodbye to Jim after collecting the RV, to a military base called Eagle Rock. 

I had felt the tension in the car increasing considerably as the miles went, but I didn't understand the reason. The only thing that had changed outwardly was an, apparently out of character, concern showing in Michael's face. So I had turned to Evans. 

There hadn't seemed to be anything different in him. As little as I know of these guys, I had already realized Max was the silent, stoic type. He never said much and he kept to himself a lot. But all that shyness and quietness had a different air to it than the one that had been surrounding him then. Of course, we hadn't been told everything about the base. When we saw the name in the route Biggs had asked about it and we'd been told that the Special Unit from the FBI had used it as HQ when the crash happened in '47 and they had held two of the aliens from their ship in there, but it was abandoned now. 

I don't think they wanted to keep us in the dark about their own experience in Eagle Rock, I guess it was more like they just didn't talk about it. Ever. Which I can understand, but I know it's wrong. 

Evans had retreated into himself more and more until he'd seemed to become a pale statue. By the time we'd gotten there he'd been so tense I feared he was about to break. 

_We stopped the cars some distance away from the base. It was supposed to be abandoned, but it never hurt to be cautious. Still, it was funny to realize how little they knew about the workings of a military base. I had to make Michael stop the car way before they'd planned to. Apparently, they hadn't count with the ever present surveillance of the perimeter. If I hadn't stopped us and, by any chance, the base was still active, by the time we stepped inside there would have been a welcoming party waiting for us. _

We all pilled out of the vehicles. Maxie wasn't there yet. I'd lost sight of her a couple of times during the drive. Probably double backing and checking that we were clear. I guess it's too soon for her to let go of all the years of watching her back. But I had no doubt she'd turn up in no time. In the few days we've been here I've felt her loosen up a bit more each day. And I know her enough to see that she's decided to trust us, so, unless something unexpected happens, Maxie is one of the team. 

Sure enough, before I'd completed the last thought I could hear the Ninja's engine roaring in the distance. 

"Hey," she said when she stopped beside me, "we're clear." 

That's my Maxie. 

Biggs and CeCe were already sneaking into the perimeter to check if there were indeed surveillance cameras or any other security measures active and the rest was waiting for their word. 

The silence was deafening. Maxie took one look at the group and came to stand beside me, asking what was up with her eyes. I signed to her that I didn't know and to just wait. None of the others was paying attention to us; they were too busy, some openly staring at Evans, others trying to pretend they weren't following his every move. Not that he moved a lot, or at all. Evans was leaning on the passenger door of the SUV, that was as far as he'd gotten. His eyes were staring straight ahead, but looking at nothing. Obviously lost somewhere in his own mind. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were white. 

Isabel was looking vaguely green and was clutching at Alex's arm around her waist. They were a weird couple. If anyone had asked me I wouldn't have been able to tell them of two people more wrong for each other... Well, except Max and Logan, of course... But once you got to know them, Alex and Isabel made perfect sense. They seemed to balance each other perfectly. And Alex was just a great guy behind the 'nerdy' look. Great sense of humour. 

Michael couldn't seem to take his eyes off Evans, and Maria seemed to be soothing him as much as taking comfort from him. 

Liz had taken a few steps back and she looked almost physically ill. I would've asked her if everything was okay if they weren't all behaving so out of character. As it was, I just made a mental note to keep an eye on her. 'A team is only as strong as its weakest member.' 

The familiar lesson came to mind. I've been out more than a year now but they'll probably be there forever, a part of me. As much as 494 as I'll ever be Alec. Which it's not a bad thing, being who I am has many advantages. It's the Hell that made me what I am that I could do without. 

Kyle looked uncomfortable too, but he was looking with the same curiosity at Max as he was at everyone else. I guess he knew what had everyone so on edge but maybe he hadn't been a part of it? 

Five dragged out minutes into the silent way, Isabel finally moved. She approached her brother and laid a careful hand on his shoulder. I think she was scared it might make him lose it. "You don't have to go in, Max. Some of us could stay here with you?" she offered hesitantly. 

Evans' eyes slowly focused on his sister, and I got the feeling he hadn't even been aware she was there, he was so lost. "What?" 

"You can stay out here. You don't have to go in, Max," Isabel repeated softly. 

In that moment everything fell into place. I remembered Michael's words: 'The FBI held some aliens captive there. There might be useful information.' 

Geez, how dense can I be? Everything in Evans shouted torture and post-traumatic stress. It's not like I haven't seen it before. Hell, I've been there myself. 

Even Isabel's behaviour had been familiar. She acted much in the same manner Max had when she'd seen me so weird when Berrisfords came back into my life. 

Don't go there. 

The point is that the people that cares about you, or at least that's what I hope Max was, wants to help you in cases like that. But I've been Evans. Talking about it is the last thing you want to do. 

I'm glad he had his catharsis, the same way I had mine... 

_Biggs and CeCe came back and informed us that everything looked fine, so we all started for the base. Evans had insisted in going in with everyone else and the tension had eased somehow, though not completely, for almost everyone; except Liz, who still seemed a bit out of it, so I kept close to here. Just in case. _

It wasn't all that big. Only one building, and I could see from a good distance that it had been well guarded in the past, cameras, motion detectors, vigilance turrets on the top... I guess it makes sense when you're keeping so important and highly 'dangerous' inside. Kinda like back 'home'. 

But none of the security was functioning. And we had no trouble getting inside the base. You know, these alien powers are far faster than any lock-pick kit. Those come in handy. I'll have to talk to Michael about that to see what exactly they can do and how they can help once we start planning the assault. 

The place looked in order but empty. We'd been told that this Nasedo guy, who could shape-shift -talk about good covers, what Manticore wouldn't give to have their soldiers do that- had posed as the head of the Special Unit and had taken it down from the inside. So it was expected that there wouldn't be much left. Still, it said a lot about the thoroughness they wanted to conduct this search of theirs with, that they didn't want to leave anything unchecked, no loose ends. 

The long grey corridors were dusty and our steps echoed in the emptiness. We checked every room we came across: interrogation rooms, morgue, mess hall, offices, control room... and an empty white room that made my skin tingle. I didn't even need to look at Evans to know he 'knew' this room. 

"This place is empty," Kyle said dejectedly. I think that after our first two stops they'd gotten used to get lucky every time. 

These small details make me think every time just how different they are from us. 

They might have been through a lot in the last two years, but they're still kids, eager and innocent. With no real experience on this kind of investigation... or the mission they've all offered to take part in so simply, so innocently. I know they have alien powers, but that won't be enough to protect themselves from Manticore, and the humans... I'm hoping we'll be able to change their minds before it comes to that. My eyes fell on Liz, one step ahead of me, still looking a second away from ready to faint. 

I got her attention laying a hand on her lower back, and asked her if she was okay very quietly. Liz gave me a faint smile, but said nothing. I don't like this. This girl is hiding something. 

"Let's split here, there are four offices in this corridor," Michael said, "It'll be faster that way." 

I made the signal to scatter and we got into one office each. We were basically covering them. It was their search, their lives. We just made sure nothing happened to them in this trip down memory lane they'd started. There was always one of us in the other vehicle, and whenever they split up we made it so there was at least one of us in each group. It was safer that way. 

Michael and Maria went into the first office on the left and Biggs followed them. Isabel and Alex went into the next with CeCe. Evans and Kyle got the first on the right with Max following them. 

I had placed myself between Liz and the rest. I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to find out what was wrong with her. I opened the door for her and she rolled her eyes at me. Good, she seems to feel better already. 

The office was as dusty and empty as the rest of the base. The desk was neatly arranged, as if ready for its owner to sit and start working. Liz sat on the chair behind it and started to check the drawers while I opened the file cabinet and made sure nothing was on it. 

"So..." I started, trying to make it look casual, "I've been thinking." I chanced a look at Liz who was systematically opening and closing drawers. "What is it that you don't want the rest to know?" 

Liz looked up sharply at me, a 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look in her face before she managed to act surprised. "I don't know what you're talking about," Liz tried. But her voice quivered and it came out more as a question than a statement. 

I sighed, wrong approach. I walked back to the desk and sat on it, facing Liz. "Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean to put you on the spotlight like that." 

I saw her swallow anxiously, still a bit scared. I don't like to have people scared of me. 

"Liz," I tried again, reaching for her hand that was resting on the desk, "you've been looking sick since the moment you stepped out of the RV. I didn't say anything at first because you all seemed to be feeling pretty out of it, especially Evans." Liz's hand tensed in mine and I squeezed it gently. "It doesn't take a genius to guess what happened. And I'm far from being dumb. But the rest of them seem to be fine now. Except you. And Evans." 

Liz lowered her head. "Don't say anything to Max, he's... He never talks about it," Liz said. 

"Yeah, I get that too. He should, though, you know. Talking helps," I offered as neutrally as possible, but still Liz gave an inquiring look. "What about you?" I reminded her, changing the subject. 

"It's nothing, Alec. I... There's something I have to talk about with the group but I haven't found the moment yet," Liz looked down again and this time her gaze fell upon her hand still in mine. She stood and I let go. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong. I think," she added under her breath. 

"Enhanced hearing, Liz. What you don't want heard don't say, no matter how softly." I smiled at her sudden indignant face. 

"I think I'm developing alien powers, but-" 

"SIR!" Biggs's voice rang out interrupting Liz. 

"Sorry," I apologized already on my way out. 

CeCe, Alex and Isabel were already outside their office, and Maxie came out at the same time I did. We all gathered in the first office where Michael and Maria were standing in front of a safebox. Maria had a fat folder in her hands and Michael was holding a key, his eyes closed. 

"What is it, Michael?" Evans asked, "It's a flash?" 

I had no idea what they were talking about but right then didn't care, Biggs wouldn't have called me if there wasn't something else. 

"Biggs?" 

"Failsafe," he said grimly. "Listen." 

I strained my ears and found what Biggs was talking about. There was an electronic beep coming from under the safe. "CeCe! Control room," I pushed my way to the wall, "Pack that and start for the exit," I ordered Michael. 

Biggs went with CeCe and Maxie moved next to me. 

"What's going on?" Evans asked. 

"There was a security system still running on this safe. You've tripped an alarm. Get going!" 

I ran my fingers across the edge of the safe, looking for the catch that would lead me to the device under it. I found it and pulled, revealing an electronic panel with a countdown flashing in red. Less than five minutes. 

"Fuck, it's not an alarm! That's a bomb. Everyone out!" Maxie yelled, herding the frozen group towards the group. 

The damage already done, I made sure there was nothing left in the safe before closing it and running out. 

Less than a minute later I heard CeCe yell out. "Got it, Alec!" 

I entered the control room and saw that everyone was there, instead of getting out. Arrgh, commanding soldiers is so much easier, civilians never do as they're told. 

CeCe was sitting at the control desk, her fingers still typing swiftly. 

"It was on when I got here. I hacked into the system and bypassed the firewalls and the rest of security," she reported. "I stopped the countdown and now I'm making sure there's nothing more of use in here." 

Alex had moved behind her chair and was following her movements, as close as he could, but he seemed to get what she was doing. They have their own hacker? 

"So we're okay?" Maria asked and then turned to Michael, "What did you see, Michael? What-" 

A high-pitched sound cut her off. CeCe cursed and a blaring alarm could be heard all over the base now. 

"CeCe?" 

"It had another failsafe. It's programmed to blow no matter what command we insert," she said getting to her feet. "We've got to run, NOW!" 

There was another countdown on the screen, but this time it was flying down from 0:59. There was no time. Not even blurring would save us now. 

"Everyone here," Evans yelled, grabbing for his sister with one hand and putting the other high in the air. They all piled close and pulled the four of us with them. 

When the countdown reached 0:03 a weird green glow spread from Max's hand and fell down over us, enclosing us in a bubble the same instant the explosions started. 

I expected to feel the heat scorching my skin and when I didn't I opened my eyes. 

There were fires all over, torching everything, glowing a bright emerald green through Max's... protection? I looked at him then. His eyes were closed in concentration and he was sweating profusely, the effort of keeping that thing up taking its toll on him. I saw him shaking and start to wobble and then Michael and Isabel put one hand each on Evans's shoulder and closed their eyes too. The effect was immediate, Evans's brow eased some and his stance became firm again. 

Everything had been so fast, but it felt like we were moving in slow motion, the whole thing a mute flash to me. Suddenly sound and speed seemed to catch up and I realised Maria was screaming her head off, and Liz had her head buried in my chest, it had been her that dragged me to them. Actually, everyone's eyes were closed. 

A moment later, the explosions ceased and everyone looked around. Evans seemed to be able to cope with the fire by himself. Apparently, it had been the blasts of the explosions that were straining him, so Michael and Isabel waved their hands and I saw the fires start to disappear around us. Once the immediate space was clear, Evans lowered his hand and stumbled back against what was left of the wall. 

"Max, are you okay?" Isabel was by his side in an instant. 

"Fine, just need a sec..." he rasped out. 

"Here," Biggs walked up to him and put Evans's arm around his shoulder, helping him stand, taking almost all of his weight. "Let's get outta here, okay?" 

Everyone followed them, Maxie taking Evans's other arm when they passed her and with her arm around his waist they walked outside. 

"That was some show," I couldn't help but say to the now empty 'room'. Maybe they can defend themselves after all. 

Once outside, we stood there looking at the remnants of the base. Everyone seemed to be lost in thought. I saw Evans staring fixedly upon the only wall that stood more or less intact. The rest all showed the signs of the distraction the base had just suffered. But there was a wall made up of white tiles from top to bottom, not even scorched. Evans couldn't pry his eyes off of it. 

Michael approached him and, saying nothing, he took Evans's hand and put it on his own wrist, and then raised his arm and let out a powerful blast. I felt the energy move all around me, and saw the white glowing ray shoot off from Michael's hand and make the white wall crumble to the ground. Once there was nothing left of it, Michael lowered his hand and patted Evans on the back, then turned and walked back toward the cars. 

Isabel took her brother's hand in hers and they followed Michael. Alex, Kyle and Maria close behind. I looked at Liz who was still staring at the burnt base with hatred in her eyes. But then she looked at me and I noticed the look of illness that had been there all that time was fading. 

The mood had been subdued since we got back to the cars. Maxie -and I couldn't believe it- asked Biggs to take her baby until we stopped for lunch saying she'd been riding for almost 24 hours straight now and could use the chance to rest. I'm not sure I'm buying it... 

Evans had gotten into the back of the SUV, letting Michael and Maria up front, and CeCe had sidestepped Isabel to sit in the back with him. 

Kyle had been sitting in the back of the Ninja before Biggs could hop in. That guy had really liked the ride! 

Alex had taken over driving the RV and Isabel had sat beside him, to keep him company. 

That left me in the back with Maxie and Liz. I could have worse company, except for the fact that none of them was paying any attention to me. Liz was writing in a leather bound book, her 'journal' I assume. I'm gonna have to talk to her again about that thing she says she can't find the time for. She's gonna make the time, soon. The group needs to know what's going on for everyone else. And Max seems to be lost in thought. 

I spread the road map in the table, checking our itinerary and timetables again, and taking the chance to study Manticore's location. I haven't been in Gillette in a long time. Since 2011 when they moved us out to Seattle. 

A shadow fell over the map and I raised my eyes to see Maxie sitting in front of me, a hesitant look on her face. 

"Can we talk for a moment?" she said, and suddenly I'm thinking this is the 'rest' she was talking about. 

"Sure, what's up?" 

"Hmm... I've been wondering, you know, what were things like, for me, in 2021?" 

I've been expecting this conversation. Max likes to be on top of things, to know what's what and to be the one in charge. She's spent too long on her own and this Max hasn't settled on her Seattle life, hasn't made connections with a place, with people, yet. The glimpse of her life we gave her that first day must have been going in circles on her mind, never far from her thoughts. 

"You want me to tell you about a life you won't have? Whatever happens when we finish this, whether we disappear she said..." I nodded my head in Liz's direction. We were talking in low tones, and there was some distance between us and the cabin, but I wouldn't risk betraying Liz's confidence. She didn't want the group to know about this Future Max so I won't even mention him. "...Or we don't, we still won't have my future any more. Not if we stay here, and not if we go back to our respective years with this Granolith thing." I let my words sink in, for both of us. 

It's not that I had just realized this, in some level I've known from the moment I said we were taking down Manticore, but it only seemed to hit home now. 

"There's no going back," I finished. 

Max kept her gaze on the map, her fingers sliding over Gillette, Wyoming. Does that name give her chills like it does me? I had my first run-in with Psy-Ops in that base and that's something that won't ever stop affecting me. 

"I know. And I've thought about that. And I think I still want to know," she said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Will you tell me?" 

"Of course. It's your life, you can know about it if you want to. I'll tell you what I know. But keep in mind we've been reluctant acquaintances for a long time," I tried to explain. "We've gotten closer the last...two months, maybe? But I don't know everything there's to know about you." 

"Why's that?" she asked curiously. "If we've known each other for almost a year as you said, why didn't we get along from the start?" 

"Well, we did meet inside Manticore, Max. Think about it, would 'you' want to be friends with a Manticore soldier?" 

Max made a disgusted face and I laughed. 

"Okay, so I wouldn't," she said defensively. "Can you blame me?" she demanded indignantly. 

"Not at all," I appeased her. 

"But a year is a long time to hang onto that, I'm sure you charmed your way into my good book-" 

"It wasn't only that, Maxie," I cut her off. "The main issue between us has always been Ben." 

Maxie's eyes widened in surprise. "I knew Ben?" her voice reflected the awe that idea inspired her. 

This is the part I was dreading. "Can I give you my version of your life? I'll get to Ben, I promise," I reassured her. "And Brin, and Tinga, Jace..." I tried to lure her with the mention of her siblings. 

"And Seth?" she asked. 

I frowned. "I don't remember any Seth, sorry. Why do you ask about him in particular?" 

"I was going to Seattle because of him. I saw him on TV. I thought he'd be the first one I met up with." 

I shrugged. "Sorry. Wouldn't know what happened to him." 

Max's face fell for a moment, then she shook her head. "Go ahead, Alec." 

I thought about what I wanted to tell her and how. "Well, I never knew what brought you to Seattle, until now. I don't know if you found him." I grabbed a pen from the table and started playing with it, using the movement to focus my train of thought. "I guess you just got tired of running. Always hiding, looking over your shoulder... Once you mentioned how living on the run wasn't really living," I remembered. 

The look on Max's face told me that that struck a chord. Understandable, I guess, this Max was about to go to Seattle and settle down so whatever made my Max say that is already there. 

"The thing is, whatever the reason, you decided to make a life for yourself in Seattle. You got a place, and a job, and friends... You got yourself a good life." 

"Really? I had friends?" Max asked, the thought probably more alien than aliens to her. 

"Yeah, good friends. I know some of them, others I just got stories about." 

Max looked totally blown away by that bit of information. 

"You worked as a bike messenger, delivering packages." Max's look of horror made me laugh. 

"Why? Why would I do that?!" 

I laughed, I couldn't help it. It was just really funny. Max has always been so passionate about her 'normal' life in Seattle. Seeing what she thinks about it now is really funny. 

"Come on, Maxie. I'm sure if you think about it you'll know why." 

Max frowned, thinking. Then a mischievous smile lit her face. "Sector pass and the perfect chance to scout places to rob?" she asked, eyebrow raised. 

"That's my little cat burglar." Max laughed throatily, startling me. I've heard that sound so few times. If ever. And a comment like that would have earned me a smack at the very least. It's so strange. She's so different. She seems to like me for starters. Suddenly, it occurred to me to wonder if things would have been different between us if I had met this Max instead of mine. 

"So, what else?" her voice interrupted my musings. 

"Well, our boss hated you... but it didn't matter what you did: disappear for days, or weeks, get in so late it was almost closing time, bite the head off the customers... he never fired you. I suppose that helped to keep you there even when you gave up your second, and more lucrative, job." I paused. In all the times I'd thought about this conversation, trying to decide what to say, I never made up my mind about Logan. Should I tell her about him? Should I omit the fact that they were 'not like that'? I didn't know if it would be fair to tell her she found love when I've always thought she would've been better off not meeting Logan. And, even worse, when she won't get to meet him now. Okay so that's not so bad, in my opinion. 

"What is it?" 

"It's just that not everything was good, Maxie. There were some really good things about living in Seattle, like the Needle. You loved sitting on the top of the Space Needle and just watch over the city, thinking. We've spent quite a few nights up there, just talking." 

Max smiled, "Sounds nice." 

"It was," I smiled back at her sadly. 

"So how did it all go wrong?" she pressed. 

"Well, if you asked my Max, that would be because of me. She... You used to say that I was the source of all your problems," I joked, not wanting the mood to get too somber. "Actually, she wouldn't agree with me, but your life changed when you met Eyes Only. Have you heard of him?" Max shook her head. "He's a self-appointed hero who wants to fix the world." The bitterness in my voice was evident even to me. She looked at me questioningly and I forced myself to smile. "OC said you tried to rob his place, that's how you two met." 

I hesitated again. 

"Are you sure you want me to be totally honest?" 

"Yeah." 

"I mean, I could tell you what you would probably tell yourself. But it'd be very different from what I think. And it's not because I want to be mean or anything. It's just my opinion, as a friend, because I care about you." 

"Alec," Max cut my stalling. 

"Right. Well you know how you've been looking for your family forever. Logan, Eyes Only, proposed you a deal. You helped him in his crusades and he helped you find your siblings. I'm not very clear on how that worked out. His part, I mean. I'm crystal clear on yours. But I know you hooked up with Zack, and through him, with a few of the others. But doing Logan's leg work brought Lydecker onto you. After ten years of being as safe as you could get, you had run-ins with Lydecker almost on a weekly basis." 

The mention of Lydecker put Max on edge. Her knuckles turned white from the grip she had on the table, and her face told me how much she hated the man and how much she feared him at the same time. 

"If I had hooked up with Zack already and it was so dangerous for me to keep doing this guy's jobs why didn't I just quit?" 

Last chance. "I think at first it was because you felt guilty. You weren't exactly thrilled with his offer in the beginning. Actually, you flat out said no. And then Logan got shot in the job you had refused to help with and ended up in a wheelchair. You would've never said it, but you felt responsible, so you accepted the quid pro quo." 

"Well, that sucks," Max said. If it weren't because I'm about to dive into such an unpleasant topic, I'd laugh. 

"Later on, you two started this dance of 'we're-not-like-that-but-we-really-are' kinda thing." 

"You mean I dated this Logan guy?" 

"Not exactly. You took too long dancing around each other and by the time you actually wanted to be together you got captured by Manticore." 

"Oh!" was all Max said. I thought she sounded vaguely disappointed. Geez, she doesn't even know Logan and she's still trapped! Of course, it probably was more the idea of dating 'someone' than Logan. I don't think Max has ever had a relationship before, a serious one with someone who knows her. 

"I'll get back to that later. Let's back up a bit. Zack wanted you to leave Seattle, and when you said no, he left. Later on, your sister Brin was captured and Zack went to you for help. I'm not sure how that went down, I only know that Brin was sick. Progeria." Max's eyes widened with horror. "Her only chance was to go back to Manticore, and that's what happened." 

"No," Max whimpered. 

"Yeah... Manticore cured her and put her through re-indoctrination." I took one of her hands in mine and squeezed gently. "None of that will happen now, Maxie. We're doing this for them, all of them." 

Max swallowed her sobs before they could come out and wiped the tears that threatened to spill over with her hand, the other one squeezing mine back. 

"I know you met up with Jace. She didn't make it back in '09, and stayed in Manticore. She was sent on a mission in Seattle and never came back. I asked you about her one night and you said you two had run into each other during her mission and you helped her escape. Turns out she was pregnant and that was a big no-no at Manticore. She went down to Mexico with the promise of naming her baby after you." 

Max smiled happily at that for a moment and then frowned. "That won't happen either." 

"Believe me, Max. The good we're stopping is really small compared to the bad. And anyway, I'm sure she would rather have her baby freely and be able to stay with its father." 

"I know," she agreed hastily, nodding at me to go on. 

"Somehow, Lydecker got a look at you and Zack turned himself in to save you... We heard 599 had been brought in, but we never saw him. He spent all his time there in re-indoctrination, possibly Psy-Ops... They let him out hoping Zack would lead them to the rest of you but that didn't work out. I'm not clear on that part of the story either. Like I told you, we've had an antagonistic friendship for the longest time and you're not big on the sharing even with the people you like." 

Max gave an indulgent smile and rolled her eyes. 

"What? 

"Nothing, you just make it sound like we were always fighting or something." 

"We were," I said. 

"Whatever, what else?" 

"Yeah... er... Tinga's next, I think. She'd gotten married and had a son. Lydecker did something to the kid and she turned herself in, in exchange for the cure. I guess that was the last straw for Zack and he started planning on hitting back. But meanwhile he was busy with that, you found Ben." 

"It doesn't sound good," Max said in a small voice. 

"It wasn't. Ben had lost it. Somewhere along the line he lost his grip on the world around him, I guess. He started killing innocent people. Lydecker had been covering up for him and getting closer to catch him for a while by the time he got to Seattle. I don't know all the details, but you told me that you guys fought and you broke his leg. Lydecker was almost on top of you, too close for you to get Ben out. And he didn't want to go back." 

Max was shaking her head. "No, no, please, tell me I didn't..." 

I leaned in over the table looking her in the eyes, willing her to believe me. "Maxie, listen to me. You did the ONLY thing that you could've done for him. You have no idea what they would've done to Ben if they'd gotten him alive. You saved him, the only way he could be saved. Ben begged you to free him, and you did." 

"By killing him?" her voice quivered, barely there. 

"Yes." 

Tears were falling freely down her cheeks now. I got up from my seat and went to sit beside her, hugging her to me. Max tensed in my arms before she allowed herself to be comforted. 

I saw Liz looking at us, concerned about Max. I shook my head at her and she nodded to me, going back to writing. 

When Max seemed to have calmed down I continued. "That's why you couldn't stand to have me close all that time. Of course, I didn't know that. You didn't tell anyone, not for months. Not until Ben's past came to haunt me. That was the turning point for us. That was the first time that I can say we were friends." 

"I'm not so sure about that," Max said sniffling. 

"Why's that?" 

"Look at you. It's obvious you're a good person, Alec. A bit too cocky and smart-ass for your own good sometimes, but you have a good heart. I can see that now. I'm sure I could see then too, even if I couldn't show it. I'm sure it wasn't that bad," she said finally. 

"I'm serious. You never had a good word for me, everything I did rubbed you the wrong way, and I'm sure I can still find some bruises left in my body!," I smirked at her, relieved that she was at least pretending she was okay for now. "Of course, I loved to irk you. It's so much fun to make you mad." 

Max chuckled. "See, it's not that I hated you, I'm sure. You just asked for it, didn't you?" 

"Sometimes," I agreed. "But not always. We had a bad start." 

We stayed silent for a while. 

"You know, usually I just wanted to cheer you up," I said, deciding to just tell her. "The last year had very little going for you. Logan and you couldn't be together because Manticore gave you a virus genetically tailored to his DNA, so you couldn't touch. And that made you hang onto him all that much. It made you miserable. I told you the other day how it was you that let us all out, and I've told you now that you have a guilty vein a mile high. You do the math." It was easier to tell her these things sitting beside her so I didn't have to look at her. "You always looked like the weight of the world was on you shoulders, feeling guilty because of all of us, because of Ben, because of the virus, because of Logan's legs... I tried to make you see that you wouldn't work out with Logan, but you never listened." 

Maxie leaned into me and kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks," she said softly and I smiled. "Alec, what will happen now with Ben?" 

"I've thought about it. Don't worry, Maxie. We'll keep an eye on him. I don't know if it was an illness or because of the way he grew up, but one way or another it'll all be different now. He won't grow up at Manticore nor live on his own all those years. And if he suffers from any kind of psychosis we'll get him on meds. He'll be fine." 

"Okay," Max nodded to herself. "Thanks for telling me all that, Alec. And I'm glad we don't have all that baggage between us now, this way we can be friends, right?" 

I hugged her again, kissing her hair. "I'd really like that, Maxie." 

"Don't call me that," she said, just to be difficult, I'm sure, and I chuckled. "I'm gonna go think or something now, okay?" 

"Sure," I said, getting up and going back to my previous seat. I saw her enter the bathroom. 

That had been easier than I thought. It felt good to be on friendly terms with Max, to have her listen to me and value my opinion. 

"So... Sir, huh?" Liz's voice startled me. 

"Hey, Liz. I didn't hear you." 

"So much for all that enhancement," she sassed, sitting down in the seat Max had just vacated. "Is Max okay?" 

"Yeah, don't worry about her. We were just talking about our own times... it' not a good topic," I shrugged. 

She must have picked up on my dismissal, I didn't really want to talk about that anymore, so she repeated. "So... Sir?" 

"Oh, that." I chuckled. I didn't think anyone had noticed that, what with the explosion and everything... "Yeah, I was the CO of my unit for a while. Biggs and CeCe are used to me being in charge. It's comfortable for them to fall into those roles." 

"Ah, I guess I can understand that. We have our roles assigned too. It's not something we consciously acknowledge, you know, but when things get tough, as they always seem to do, it's easier for us to know what our place in the group is." 

"So what's your place?" 

Liz thought about it for a moment. "To be honest, I'm not sure anymore." She bit her lower lip thoughtfully, one of her many mannerisms that made her look so fragile when I'm thinking she's anything but. "I've had an active role in the past," she went on, unaware of my unwavering gaze, "you know, being Max's girlfriend and the most level-headed one of the group gave me some 'decision-making' power." 

I raised my eyebrow at that, I didn't think she realized what she had said. Liz stopped talking and, after a bit, she blushed faintly, the olive tone of her skin hiding it somewhat. Yep, slip all right. 

"Evans, huh? Girlfriend of an alien king... Those are some bragging rights," I teased her. Actually, I had noticed their special interaction, a few looks, some comments from the others... but it hadn't look like they were together to me. 

"Ex-girlfriend," she rushed to clarify. "We're not together anymore." 

"Uh uh..." 

"That's one of the reasons I don't know my place anymore," she went on, ignoring me. "Well, that and that I've been butting head with the aliens for a while now." 

"They still seem to listen to you." I offered. 

"Yeah, I guess. It's just that I've always been the science geek of the group so they often turn to me... like I'm all-knowing or something." 

"You like science? I'm not buying the geek part," I added before she could say anything, "You don't look the part." 

Liz blushed a bit more and I found myself loving it. It was as much fun as making Max mad. She rolled her eyes at me. 

"Yeah, I like science. I've always dreamed of going to Harvard and studying molecular biology." She had a wishful look in her eyes. 

"Wow, big words," I said impressed. 

"Yeah, they must think so too. Sometimes I think they forget that I haven't done it yet. I want to be a scientist, I'm not one yet." She made a pause and seemed to deliberate on her next words. Then she leaned forward and lowered her voice, like she was going to share some secret. "Do you know much about how you were created?" 

The question caught me off guard. It must have shown in my face, and Liz thought she'd said something wrong, I could see the regret in her eyes. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry or upset you. I was just curious and I thought-" 

"Liz, it's fine," I interrupted her nervous apology, "You just surprised me. You're the first person to ask about that. Usually they want to know about my 'superpowers'," I say sarcastically, making air-quotes. 

"Oh, that," Liz seemed to be back on firm ground again, "I'm used to those," she dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand. "I'm more interested in the progress of creation. Theirs is fascinating too," she went on, meaning the aliens I gather. Her eyes lit up and shined like a kid's on Christmas morning. "We found Michael's human donor a while back. It was so weird... just think, you take a part of Charles Dupree, another part of the warrior Rath, Commander of the Antarian Army, tinker with them a bit, mix it up and you get the ever-mystery also known as Michael Guerin." I could hear the affection in her voice, she seemed to like Michael a lot. She obviously trusted him. 

"Yeah well, you take a part of a big wild black panther, lots of parts of people with real big brains, the eyes of the late wife of her old nemesis, shake a bit and you get our dear Maxie... just as scary." I winked at her. 

"I heard that!" Max's voice came out of the bathroom. Weird place to be thinking, but the only private space, I guess. Liz and I laughed. 

"So what about you?" Liz asked after a moment of silence. 

"What about me?" 

"What do you like?" she clarified. 

"Oh, that...well-" 

"Let me guess: alcohol, money and women?" Max's voice came again. No doubt as a revenge for the scary comment. 

"Maxie, weren't you thinking? Stick to that," I yelled at her. "Don't listen to her. She knows nothing about me," I told an amused Liz. 

"You tell me then." 

"Well, to be honest, I do like women... and alcohol... and money. I like getting money... especially if it's not mine." I smiled remembering some of my favorite heist, including the last one. But Liz was looking at me wearily. 

"You mean stealing?" her voice sounded small again. 

"It's not like that, Liz. Things are so different here... you have no idea how bad everything went after the Pulse." 

"What pulse?" she asked confused. 

"Right, you were talking to Michael when I mentioned it that first day in the quarry. In 2009 there was a terrorist attack. They let out an EMP over the country. I guess you know what that is, Miss Scientist?" 

"Yeah, smart ass, I know what it is." 

Good, she was back to insulting me. "Well, it was a big one. The country went crazy. From the most powerful potency to a third world country in a second. You can't imagine it. Corruption, lootering, mafias... The rich who'd managed to keep their money because it wasn't just ones and zeros in an account somewhere became even richer taking advantage of those who lost it all. The people of the street became just that, homeless people. There was hunger, poverty, disease... So yes, I stole. Truth is everyone had deals on the side." 

"Sounds like a hard life," Liz said. 

I couldn't help it, I laughed. "Sweetheart, compared to where we came from, it was Heaven." Liz looked uncomfortable again so I tried to lighten the mood. "You should have seen Maxie's face when she realized Michael had running hot water in his apartment." 

It worked, she chuckled. "So you like stealing then?" this time her voice wasn't accusing. 

"To tell you the truth, what I really like is the rush of a good heist. I like the feeling I get whenever a pull a fast one on someone. I like being smarter, stronger, faster. It feels really good." 

"Geez, nice ego you got there, Alec," Liz joked. 

"Yep," I agreed chuckling. "Charming isn't it?" I winked at her again. And there it was, that cute blush again. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

They had stopped for lunch. They were in a rest stop area, an empty one at the moment. They had food in the RV, but it was easier to stop and get something when they could. That way they could all sit down together and talk. 

They had chosen this place because it had outdoor tables and benches, just a short distance from the road, and they didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing their conversation. 

Maria pulled out the folder she'd taken from Eagle Rock from her bag while the rest put away the empty containers and leftovers making room for her. 

Michael also put the key on the table, having pulled it from his pocket. 

"So did you get a flash from it?" Maria asked him. 

"Yeah," Michael said absently while scowling at the key. 

"What's with you and keys, anyway?" Isabel asked. 

Michael ignored her and Kyle poked him in the ribs. "What, it's a mean key or something?" 

Michael turned his glare on Kyle. "It's Pierce's," Michael said by way of explanation. "It was his office. I don't know how the hell Nasedo missed that safebox." 

"Okay, let's back up a bit, shall we? What's a flash?" Alec asked. He'd heard them all mention them before but he wasn't sure what 'flash' meant. 

"Sometimes we get flashes from people or things," Isabel explained. "We see an image or a scene, like in a movie. A memory, a dream, a fantasy... We also get feelings with them. It's like, for a moment, we're that person... we know what they heard, smelled, felt... It all comes through with the flash. 

"Nice," Biggs said. 

"Not always," Liz mumbled, thinking of the flash she'd gotten from Max after his torture at Eagle Rock, or the ones she got from Nasedo when he was impersonating Max. 

Alec looked at her, probably the only one who heard her since she was sitting next to him. Well, not really the only one. But they were used to being discreet. 

"So what did you see?" Maria asked Michael again. 

"I saw Pierce putting the key and the folder in the safe, and some kind of building with a logo on top, I'm not sure what it is... maybe a bank or something like that where the key belongs," he ventured. 

"And who is this Pierce?" Biggs asked. As Alec's lieutenant, he and CeCe were used to being in charge of collecting info. Not that this was a mission, but still... it kind of was. 

"Was," was the only thing Michael said. 

Seeing that no-one wanted to say anything, Maria spoke. "He was a scumbag obsessed with aliens and, unfortunately for us, in a position to screw us." Her voice was laced with hatred. 

That didn't help much the transgenics. Max was the one to explain. "He was the head of the Special Unit of the FBI. He posed undercover as a deputy in the Sheriff's Office. He was the one in charge of my... captivity." 

"Torture's most like it," Isabel muttered darkly. And unnecessarily, they all knew that by now. 

"He was obsessed," Max went on, ignoring Isabel. "He was convinced we were some kind of first wave or exploration team for an all out invasion from our planet. He kept asking stupid questions about how many were coming and when and where..." Max's tone had bee going down with each word, in the end, almost like he was talking to himself and everyone was looking at him concerned. That was the most he'd ever said about it. 

"Yeah, well. I fried him. End of story," Michael said decisively, breaking no argument. He wasn't very comfortable with the topic, as much for Max's sake as his own. 

"Lucky you," Alec said suddenly, surprising everyone. He noticed and elaborated. "Pierce might have been a bastard and a pain in your asses. But you fought him, beat him and killed him. That's it, you can move on." 

Biggs nodded knowingly, getting Alec's point immediately. But Alec could see that the others didn't get it. 

"I mean, take our bad guy. Agent White was in charge of 'erasing any proof that Manticore ever existed', his words. That meant 'killing us all'. But we couldn't just kill him. And that's the fun part. We fought him, won -or we wouldn't be here now- and then had to let him go to start all over again the next day." 

"But they're kids, Alec," Maxie argued, missing the general offended looks all around, "They shouldn't have to kill anyone." 

"Yeah, well, we're not that much older, Maxie. But sometimes you forget that we are soldiers and trained as such. When someone is trying to kill you, the right defence is take him out first," Alec said sternly at Max. "You didn't want to kill White either." 

"The right thing to do is let the authorities take care of it," Max insisted. 

"Come on Maxie, he 'is' the authorities. And 'we'," Alec motioned to the whole group, "are not the kind of people that can go to the authorities for help," Alec said bitterly. "To them, we're the threat." He saw Michael nodding openly and the knowledge and acceptance in the eyes of some of the others, and he felt better. For some reason, what these people thought had been important to him. 

CeCe felt like a change of subject was in order. "What's in the folder?" she asked Maria. 

Michael reached for the documents and started looking through them. "Some reports on the Crash, testimonies of the people involved... the research done on Nasedo and the other one, medical tests and other stuff like that..." Michael stopped when he got to one particular paper. "Um... no idea, Liz?" He handed it to her. 

Liz took it and gave it a once-over, then rolled her eyes at Alec. "It's some kind of chemical formula," she said tiredly, "I wouldn't know what exactly with just a look." 

Alec chuckled beside her, remembering her earlier words. 

"Anyway, this could be useful," Michael said. 

Alec took a corner of the page and tugged, "Can I?" 

"Sure, Liz said letting him take it. "You know much about science?" 

"Not really. Biggs'll probably be more help," Alec leaned into Liz's ear and whispered, "He's the geek out of the both of us." 

"Hey!" Biggs exclaimed, having hear Alec perfectly. He took a wrapper and made a tight ball, then threw it swift and hard at Alec who avoided it laughing. 

Alec studied the page carefully, but he didn't know what it was better than Liz did. He passed it to Biggs who said he'd take a look at it later. A comfortable silence had fallen upon the group. 

"You know what, it looks like we're having a nice, relaxed moment, in the sharing mood. Anyone else has anything they want to share?" Alec said exaggeratedly, giving Liz a pointed look and a poke in the ribs. 

"Subtlety, Alec, try it some time," Maxie laughed seeing the exasperated look on Liz's face. 

"I was going to tell them already, Alec. I don't need a neon sign, thank you very much," Liz said testily, but Alec saw that she wasn't really mad at him. It was the truth, she had been trying to find the right way to tell the others, it just wasn't easy. Her words were going to change three lives forever. 

"What's wrong, Liz?" Max asked worried. 

Liz opened her mouth but the ringing of a phone interrupted her. 

Max took out his cell and answered the call. "Hello?" 

_"What part of keeping a low profile did you not understand?"_ Jim Valenti's angry voice came from the other end. 

"Er..." 

_"Blowing up a military base is NOT KEEPING A LOW PROFILE!!"_ Max flinched, moving the phone away from his ear. 

Apparently, news travelled fast. 

"It was an accident, we tried to stop it but the whole thing went up in flames on us so fast-" 

_"On you? You were still inside? Is everyone okay?"_ The anger gone, now Jim was a concerned parent. 

"We're fine, Jim. You know we can take care of ourselves. I used my shield," Max reassured him. "How did you hear?" 

_"Hanson came over, all worried. He didn't know if he was supposed to do something about it,"_ Jim chuckled. 

But Max felt the familiar pang of guilt that assaulted him whenever he thought about why Jim had lost his job. "Yeah, well, we'll try not to blow anything else," Max said. "Everything all right there?" 

_"Yeah, don't worry. You be careful out there. I'll call if anything happens,"_ Jim said and then hung up. 

"It looks like someone noticed the demise of Eagle Rock," Max commented. "Valenti's not happy about that. What were you going to say, Liz?" 

Liz took a deep breath. "Remember what Ava told me?" she started. 

Some of them were nodding their heads, others looked confused. 

"About the changes?" Maria asked. 

Liz nodded. "I think it's happening. I've been experiencing bouts of empathy, I think. I feel what other people are feeling at certain moments," Liz explained, keeping eye contact with Kyle all the time. Liz knew Kyle would be the most freaked out about this. After all, he was the next in line. Max had saved him next. And Kyle had taken finding out about the aliens the worst, making him rethink his whole view of life. 

Kyle was getting paler for moments. HE was going to get alien powers. Max Evans had saved his life and changed him forever. He didn't know if it was hypocritical to be mad at Evans but that's what he felt right then. 

For his part, Max wasn't thinking of Kyle at all. He was on a one way ticket to guilt-land and he didn't see a way out. Now Liz would be forever tied down to them. It didn't matter that he had resigned himself to never be with her again, because she was going to be hiding from everyone just like him. Forever. 

"Okay, stop it, Max," Liz spoke loudly. Max looked at her, surprised. "I can read your face. You're killing yourself with guilt over this. Well, don't. It's nothing bad. I'm fine, I just have to learn to control this thing. Maybe Isabel could help me?" Liz asked the other girl. "Your powers are the most mental." 

"Sure," Isabel agreed. "We'll see what we can do." 

"And Kyle, and Alex, just don't flip out over this, okay? We're alive thanks to these same powers, and now we have this gift... Everything is all right." Liz told them, determined to not let them make a big deal out of this. She knew Alex would need to think about it for a while, but he'd be okay. She would just have to talk to Kyle privately. 

For the next half hour Liz explained to the group every weird thing she'd noticed the past week. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

They had crossed the state line a while ago. Their next stop was Atherton's, in Marathon, Texas. 

"I wouldn't mind stopping at the porno version of Aladdin this time," Maria whispered in Michael's ear. 

They were in the RV, alone at the moment. Michael looked surprised at Maria, then laughed. "Who would've thought we'd work out so well back then, huh?" Michael said smiling. He leaned into her and gave her a sweet kiss. 

Sometimes Maria still wondered at how much they had both changed. The difference was easier seen in Michael, but she had changed too. Having Michael stand by her, and even staying on the planet for her, had quelled her abandonment issues. 

Maria snuggled against Michael's chest, his arm around her waist, his fingers tracing circles on her belly. 

"I'm worried about Liz," she said suddenly. 

"What about her?" 

"She told me she'd talked to you about her 'visitor' and what she did," Maria said looking at his face for confirmation. Michael nodded. "I know she's had a while to deal with it, and it seems she has, she looks fine, but I'm not sure that's how she really feels. I'm afraid she's just blocked it all inside and it's been eating at her slowly." 

Michael remembered the night Liz told him. "She seemed really upset while she told me. But given what she told us earlier maybe that was my fault..." 

"Yeah, and that's the other thing. It must be really freaking her out. I mean, alien powers! She must be-" 

"They're not alien, Maria. They're human," Michael corrected her softly. 

"Whatever, I can't do it, she shouldn't either." Maria made a face, thinking about her words. "That didn't come out right. It's not that I'm jealous... Do you think she'll do the 'changing things into other things' too?" 

"I don't know. Maybe. That's one of the basic things we all can do, so I guess it stands to reason that she will too." 

"You could help her to control it if she can. I'm not sure Max should. They seem to be getting along better now, Liz told me they agreed to be friends. Better give them some space," Maria said. 

"Yeah, Max has been obsessed with Liz way too long to just stop suddenly. Some time and space will do him good," Michael said thoughtfully. "And hopefully, telling me helped Liz with some of her inner turmoil about 'him'. We can talk to her some more, you know, help her get it all out," Michael mused. 

Maria smiled at him. "When did you get so deep and wise?" 

Michael chuckled. "When I decided I was keeping you around. One of us had to be the grown up, right? Ouch!" Michael yelped when Maria pinched his thigh. 

Before Maria could say anything else the RV stopped and Michael stood forcing Maria to do the same. "Let's go, blondie." 

They all gathered in front of the strange looking house. 

"What's that?" Biggs asked. 

"A geodesic dome," Michael said, and when Biggs kept looking confused he elaborated. " It's a house." 

"That's a house?!" 

"Yeah, it surprised Michael too," Max chuckled. 

"I saw it on a flash but I had no idea what it was. My art teacher had to tell me," Michael said. 

"When you told me about this place I didn't expect it to look like this," Alex told Isabel. He and Kyle hadn't been in their previous visit to the dome. 

"Who would want to live there?" Alec asked looking around. "I mean, look at this place. There's nothing at all in miles. I'll never understand country people," he said shaking his head. 

"Yeah, well, it's a good place to live when you're an alien nutcase who probably had met and pissed off a real alien," Michael said shrugging. "Nasedo killed the owner of this place in 1959." 

"So what are we looking for?" Maxie asked. 

"It'll probably be empty now," Max said starting for the house. "We had a run-in with the FBI here." He placed his hand over the lock and they all heard it click open. "There's a hidden room under the dome." 

Max went directly to the wall with the hidden lock, ignoring the rest of the house. It had been empty the first time already, they wouldn't find anything there. 

Michael had taken the key from the box and went to open the hidden door on the floor. 

"This place looks like a hurricane passed through it," CeCe said, taking in the interior of the dome. 

"The government isn't known for its tidiness," Maria said shrugging. 

"This part was probably Nasedo's doing. I bet he was looking for the pendant and couldn't find it," Isabel said. 

"You coming?" Biggs's head popped up from the stairs. "Down here is even worse." 

The girls followed him down. 

"This room was full of papers, books, photos and stuff. We only had a few minutes before we had to run but we took all we could," Max said. 

"And where is all that now?" Alec asked. 

"The FBI orchestrated a robbery at our house that same morning, before we even got the chance to look at anything," Max explained. 

"Figures," Alec said. 

"What? Gotta trust the government to find creative ways of getting what they want," Biggs shrugged. "Just look at us." 

Alec chuckled and CeCe shook her head, but the rest didn't get their peculiar sense of humor. 

They separated, spreading all over the room, looking for anything. There was upturned furniture and broken shelves on the floor. The tunnel they had used to escape the last time had been sealed off with wooden panels. 

"Did you get away this way?" Alec asked chuckling. 

"Yeah, someone must have been ticked off about that," Michael said smiling smugly at the amount of taints keeping them in place. 

After a thorough search they all came up empty handed. 

"Well, it was a long shot. We knew that," Max said resignedly. 

"Don't you want to try the waving hands thing?" Maxie asked, waving her own hand in demonstration. 

"I don't know... This is a human's house. Why would there be an alien hiding place in here?" Michael asked dubiously 

"We don't know that Nasedo was never here. I mean, River Dog said Nasedo trusted Atherton. Maybe he was here at some point," Max said. 

"They might have been friends, but Nasedo still killed him. Besides, I'm sure Nasedo was never down here. Look at state of things up there. He obviously wanted something. But this place looked okay the first time. He wasn't here. So it's a waste of time to look for something only he could have done," Michael argued. 

"I don't care," Isabel said suddenly, stopping the argument. "I'm not leaving yet." 

"Iz?" 

"Don't you feel it, Max?" she asked. 

"Feel what?" Michael asked her. 

"The... pull," she said finally. 

Michael and Max closed their eyes and tried to feel whatever Isabel was talking about. After a few seconds they opened their eyes. 

"There is something, but I wouldn't have felt it if I hadn't been looking for it," Michael said. 

"Yeah, me neither. It's really faint." 

"No, it's not. Not to me," Isabel said shaking her head. "I felt it the moment I stepped in here. But I can't pinpoint where it's coming from. I've been walking around to see if the pull was stronger anywhere, but nothing," she said defeated. 

"Okay, let's look again then," Alec said, seeing that they didn't know what to do. "Just because it's not on sight it doesn't mean it's not here. Guys check the walls and the floor, maybe there's a hidden safe or something." 

The transgenics spread out again and started knocking softly on the walls and the floor, looking for a difference in sound. 

Ten minutes later they had gone around the room and were back to the middle, having found nothing. 

"Now what?" Isabel asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. 

"Easy, girl. Transgenics aren't known for giving up. Just let me think," Alec said, reassuring Isabel. 

"Sorry," she said softly, a bit embarrassed. "It's just that I feel like I need to find this thing, like it's calling to me." 

Alex hugged her from behind, trying to offer her some kind of comfort. She leaned back into him grateful for his presence. 

"Oh! I've got it!" Maria exclaimed out of the blue, startling everyone. "You can try to send waves out and hear them rebound on the 'thing'!" When everyone looked at her like she was crazy she went on, "You know, like the dolphins with their eco-whatever." She turned to Liz and Alex, "Remember we saw that _Flipper_ film ages ago?" 

Liz, used to Maria's way of thinking, just nodded at her, smiling encouragingly. But the rest was looking at her half amused, half in shock, as if they thought she'd finally lost it. 

"Hey! Give me a break, will you?" she said defensively. "I'm just a lousy human. The only one left, if Liz's new power is any indicator. And I have nothing to contribute except babbling and dumb TV ideas," she was mumbling by now. 

Michael had gone from shock to looking at Maria fondly. She was a really special girl. He walked up to her and hugged her tenderly. Maria hid her face in his chest, embarrassed now that everyone was laughing. Michael pulled back slightly and leaned down too kiss her. "You are anything but a lousy human, Maria," he told her softly. "And your babbling is out of this world." 

Maria rolled her eyes at him. "I was just trying to help," she said, chuckling herself. 

"It's not a bad idea," Alec said. "And don't go knocking TV. It taught me everything I know," he joked. 

"I'm sure Manticore would be proud to hear that," CeCe laughed. 

"Okay, we'll try the dolphin thing," Michael said. 

"Right, then you want to be really quiet so maybe we can hear the waves hitting the 'thing'," Alec said. "Let's try it in the open. See if it works." 

Everyone went silent, unconsciously holding their breaths. Michael let out a wave of energy towards the broken desk and they waited expectantly. The four transgenics had been straining their sense of hearing to its fullest and they all nodded that they heard it. 

"It works," Maxie said simply, somewhat amazed at their own genetics. 

"Okay, since there's nothing out here you should try sending the waves into the walls and the floor," Alec said. 

Michael went to the closest wall and put his hand on it. For a moment, his hand glowed brightly and he felt the vibration move from his hand and into the wall. The transgenics, spread out through the wall, put their ears on the wall. 

"Damn, I hadn't counted on those," Alec muttered. "Guys did you feel the vibration hit the structure?" 

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was what were looking for, but there're too many and too precisely placed," CeCe said and the other two nodded. 

"Michael, do it again, so we can be certain how that sounds, that way we can distinguish anything different," Alec ordered. 

Michael did as he was told and when the transgenics were satisfied they all moved to the next wall. 

It was in the third wall that Maxie called out. "I think I've got it." 

She pointed right in front of her and Michael sent another wave to make sure. 

"Yep, it's there. Pretty deep, too." 

"My turn," Michael said. He stood with his hand raised and pointing at the exact spot Maxie had indicated. He let out a blast this time, intending to blow the wall. There was a small explosion and dust and bricks flew everywhere. When it settled down, there was a gaping hole in the wall. Michael took a step forward but right then the whole dome trembled and a low rumble could be heard. 

It was over in a few seconds. 

"Geez, Michael! Bury us, why don't you?" Kyle said only half joking. Everyone looked a bit shaken. 

"We better hurry," Max said. 

Michael put his arm inside the hole and felt around. When he found the 'thing' he gasped. "Damn! No wonder Nasedo trashed the place!" Michael pulled his hand out and showed it to the group. "He wasn't looking for the pendant." 

In his hand was one of the two missing orbs. Dark and smooth, in a blueish tone with the V constellation in silver on top. 

Isabel took it from his hands and studied it. She felt a pleasant tingling throughout her entire body. She smiled. "I think it knows me." Her voice was awed. 

Right then another tremor ran through the structure. 

"Okay, I say now is a good time to leave," Alex said. 

Everyone ran towards the stairs, bits of roof falling on them. 

"Did you have to tear it down, Michael?" Liz yelled out. 

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. Now run," Michael yelled back. 

By the time they were all in the ground floor the whole thing was falling over their heads. They all ran outside, dodging flying objects and hurrying to safety. 

The group stared at what was left of the dome, trying to catch their breaths, some of them. Alec shook his head. "You guys are hell on buildings," he said. 

"Hey, Kyle, he stole your line," Alex laughed looking for Kyle in the group. But he wasn't there. "Kyle?· 

Everyone looked back to the ruins. "Fuck!" Michael shouted and ran back. The rest following. 

The Xs got there first and were lifting rafters when the rest got there. 

"Kyle!" 

"Kyle, can you hear us?" 

CeCe heard a muffled whimper and yelled, "Here!" She was already moving out debris. "Oh my God" 

"Kyle!" Liz screamed when she finally saw him. 

He was laying under a heavy beam and there was a metal shaft protruding from his stomach, blood flowing freely and pooling under him. He had a big cut on his forehead and it looked like his left leg was broken. 

"No!" Maria sobbed. "Kyle!" 

His eyes remained closed. 

TBC 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Please review! 


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry people, I didn't realize so much time had passed. Here's the next chapter. 

**Chapter 5**

The last day had been hell. 

First Eagle Rock and then Kyle's accident at Atherton's. Actually, accident sounded too light. He almost died. 

If Max hadn't been right there to heal him Kyle would've been gone. 

Seeing Max in action had been a shock to the transgenics. It was one thing to see Max open a lock with a wave of his hand or Michael blast a hole in a wall; putting back together a person's flesh, mending the damage to the organs, seeing Kyle's body stop its journey to death and come back to life... that was different. 

And the silver handprint that had appeared in Kyle's stomach... It was cool in a weird kinda way. 

Biggs and Alec carried Kyle to the RV and laid him down. Isabel took out the first aid kit and cursed when she realized it didn't include a transfusion kit. Kyle had lost a lot of blood and Max couldn't make some from thin air. 

Isabel said she could 'make' one if she only knew exactly how they were built, so CeCe drew one for her, a perfect reproduction with the names of all the parts and how they worked. A real fast drawing considering all the details she provided. Isabel took some sterilized materials from the med kit and transformed them into a transfusion line. 

They chose Alec's blood to transfuse Kyle because the transgenics were universal donors and, even though there was no real damage left in his body, having transgenic blood with all its stem cells and everything couldn't hurt. 

'At least Jim hasn't heard about this one,' Max thought, glad that Atherton had lived in such an isolated place. Twice in one day was just two much. But Max was especially glad that Jim didn't know about Kyle. He would only worry, and there was nothing he could do about it without them going back. And Max was too deep in now to go back. 

Besides, there was nothing to be done anyway. Kyle was as good as new. Once he'd healed the damage and they'd put some blood back into him his colour had returned quickly and just a few hours later he was joking around as if nothing had happened. Max thought it was just a façade and Kyle would need a little time to deal but for the time being there was nothing he could do. 

Max saw the Ninja pass him by fast as lightning and then make a sharp U-turn, heading straight to them. 

"I'll kill him!" Maxie threatened from the passenger seat. "Just keep going, he'll pull away," she assured Max, who looked more than a little apprehensive. 

Max kept his eyes on Alec. "Are you sure?" His voice shook a little. 

"He knows there's no place on this Earth he can hide if he wreaks my bike," Max said, her eyes never leaving Alec's. "He's just playing," Maxie explained at the same time that Alec manoeuvred to avoid a collision, winking at Maxie before disappearing into the dark. "I'm never letting him take it again," Maxie huffed. 

Max felt the lump in his throat dissolve and turned to stare at Maxie. "Why did you let him in the first place?" 

Maxie rolled her eyes. "He has the most... endearing... convincing... saddest puppy dog face I've ever seen," Maxie said, struggling with the words, "I couldn't say no." She shrugged and, noticing Max was still looking at her, she added, "Eyes on the road, Evans." Maxie looked at him, "You don't mind if I call you Evans, right?" 

Max smiled a little. For a moment he wondered at the fact that it had taken Maxie almost a week to mention it, but then he realized that she hadn't really spoken to him until now. They all had talked in the group meetings, sure. But this was the first time he'd talked to her alone. "Too weird to use your own name on a guy?" he asked knowingly. 

"Yeah," Maxie agreed. "I wouldn't be the only one, anyway. I've heard Kyle call you Evans. Alex too, sometimes." 

"It's fine," Max said, getting the feeling she really wanted his approval. 

"What about you? Is it weird to call me Max?" 

"Yeah, a bit." 

"Well, you can call me Guevara if you want," Maxie offered. 

Max thought about it before saying, "I think I'll go with Alec on this one." 

"Maxie, huh?" she said rolling her eyes. 

"Yep," Max said smiling. "You don't like it?! 

"It's not that, it's just... My family called me Maxie," she said softly. 

They were silent for a while then. Max looked into the rearview mirror to see Alex and Isabel asleep in the back seat, cuddling close. He rolled his eyes. He was happy for his sister, really, and Alex was good for her. But he didn't want to see them getting cozy and be left imagining just how cozy they'd really gotten. Max shuddered. 

The sight of Alex brought Kyle back to the front of his mind. They both had had close calls in the last few weeks, because of them. 

"I shouldn't have let them come," he muttered to himself, lost in his thoughts. 

Maxie looked at his profile and could see the guilt reflected in his features. "That was really impressive, what you did for Kyle," she said into the silence. 

Max looked at her surprised. "Yeah, well, I've had practice," he almost spat, his voice self-deprecating. 

"I don't think you could have told them to stay. They knew the risks, and they decided to come. Is it really your call?" 

"But I'm responsible for them," Max started, but Maxie was shaking her head. 

"Why, because you're supposed to be this alien king?" 

"No... Well, yes, I mean, no," Max stuttered. "No, I've always been responsible for them. Long before we found out about that stuff. I've always looked out for Michael and Isabel. And when Liz, Maria and Alex learned about us, that just made me responsible for them as well." 

"You mean you 'felt' responsible for them," Maxie corrected him. 

Max faltered a bit. "I guess. They were being spied on, chased, kidnapped... all because of me. It was my duty to keep them all safe." 

"You're only one person. And no matter how many 'cool' gifts you have, you're not all-powerful. They're a capable group of people who draw strength from each other. Maybe you should try that too." Maxie paused, having doubts about speaking her mind, but in the end she decided to be honest. "I've felt the friction, and I've heard some comments... You seem to have gone through a rough time lately," she started, trying not to sound like she was intruding. 'When has that ever mattered to me before?' she wondered. "Maybe you lost sight of the rest of the group, too busy trying to lord over them to keep them safe?" 

Max looked sharply at her, an angry retort ready to spill, but he bit his tongue at the last moment. Maxie wasn't even looking at him; instead she was staring out the window. Max wasn't sure at what exactly, he couldn't see beyond the headlights, but maybe she could. 

He turned back to the road. 'It's not as if she's wrong,' he admitted to himself. He had already come to terms with all the bad decisions and mistakes he'd made the last year. 

"I never really dealt with what happened to me when the Special Unit took me," Max said into the silence. 

Maxie didn't give any indication that she'd heard him but he knew she was listening. Maybe she felt how difficult it was for him to talk about it and how much easier it was to do it if she wasn't looking at him. 

"I didn't want to think about it, and I didn't want to talk about it. And I guess I thought if I kept my distance they wouldn't have a chance to ask," he said in a hushed voice. He didn't want to wake the sleeping couple. "What I managed to do instead was to drive a wedge between Michael and me. I avoided Tess as much as I could... and my parents knew there was something wrong with me, but of course I couldn't tell them anything about the real reason... Not that I wanted to," Max shook his head. It had been a long year. 

Maxie let him talk. Sometimes it was enough to be able to let it all out. 

"And things with Liz got so complicated... and painful... and don't forget Kyle. When his father got fired because of us, he was so mad at me." 

The deserted road and the monotone noise of the motor helped Max to focus his train of thought. The memories of the last months played on like a movie, gaining perspective with time and hindsight. 

"I guess everything got so tense that it was easier to hold onto that wall I'd built. And when I wanted to change that, the rest had their all defences in place. Suddenly I had no way to go back. The group fell apart..." 

"You're family," Maxie said softly then. "Family should stick together." 

"Yeah..." 

They both went back to their own thoughts, mulling over her words: Maxie, thinking of her siblings and what Alec had told her the day before. Max, adjusting his previous views on their dysfunctional group to fit it into the new term. 

They were family. As much as his parents back in Roswell, or the distant feeling of a mother back in Antar... This group of people, who had gone through so much with him, were his family. 

"I only want all of them to be safe." 

Maxie looked at him with a small smile. "I know." 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Alec drove towards the RV, much as he'd done with the SUV, but this time he signaled to Biggs, who was driving, to pull over and pick him up. 

They secured the Ninja in the back and went around to get in. 

"Hey, Kyle, do you mind taking over for a while?" Biggs asked. 

Kyle's face lit up and he gave Biggs a grateful look. 

"Sure, no problem, Biggs," he said before Liz or Maria could get a word in. They had been mother-henning him all night. And he could do with the rest. 

"Are you sure?" Liz asked. 

"You shouldn't go around making any efforts-" Maria started, but Kyle cut her off. 

"Girls, I'm perfectly okay. Alien-healed and transgenic-transfused. That's as good as it gets. Besides it's only driving." Kyle was already making his way to the driver's seat. 

"Yeah, well, I'm going with him," Maria said stubbornly, following Kyle. 

Michael chuckled, following Maria with his eyes, inwardly pitying Kyle. Maria could be... Well, he loved her, and he wouldn't change a thing about her, but there were times when the urge to strangle her was really powerful. He turned back to the conversation going on in the 'living-room'. 

Alec was spreading a map and some blank A3 on the table and Biggs and CeCe were sitting down around. Alec was speaking. 

"I took a look yesterday at Manticore's location. Gillette is a good location, it has a city close by to get provisions, but the place is basically deserted. No-one to witness the child abuse or scientific experiments gone wrong." 

"Are we sure there's no other facility yet?" CeCe asked. 

"Yes, I checked," Alec said confidently. 

"What the-? What exactly did you check?" Biggs asked confused. 

"After we were moved to Seattle, remember there were some members of our units missing?" 

"Yes, the trainers said they didn't make it through re-indoc," CeCe said. 

"Yeah, well, I didn't buy it. 751 not making it through re-indoc?" his disbelief was evident in his voice. "That kid was the strongest in the Unit, and more stubborn than me." 

"And that's saying, isn't it?" Biggs smirked. 

"Don't know what you're talking about," Alec said, his eyes wide and his face a mask of innocence, making CeCe snort. "Anyway," Alec went on, "I sneaked into the control room and hacked into their records. They'd decided it was safer to split the Units in two facilities, but until then Gillette had been the only base." 

"But there weren't all that many missing. I mean, some of them did die in Psy-Ops and re-indoctrination. There weren't enough missing to be half the total," CeCe argued. 

"No, no. They didn't take many. Just a small contingent for special training. The point is that right now we only have to worry about Gillette and the Committee," Alec said looking around. "Er... you have a pen?" he asked the other two. 

"Here," Liz said from behind him, holding her pen to him. 

Alec took it from her. "Aren't you using it?" he asked Liz. 

"No, it's okay. I was done anyway," she told him. 

"Thanks." Alec smiled at her before looking back to the table. 

Liz melted at the sight of his smile. Damn, he was gorgeous. She shook her head, mentally chastising herself. She got closer to the table to see what they were doing and saw Michael doing the same. 

"Okay, so this was the barracks building," Alec was saying, drawing a rectangular figure in one the blank pages. "Gym and classrooms in this building here." He added a new one. 

"Mess hall and Rec Room," Biggs said at a spot some distance to the left. 

"Rec Room?" Michael interrupted. "Didn't sound like you had a lot of recreational time from what you guys said." 

"For the guards," CeCe said simply. 

"Labs and medical wing," Alec went on as if he hadn't heard a word. "This is the only one with a basement, if I'm not mistaken." 

"Maybe the barracks won't be there yet," Biggs observed. 

"Right," Alec said thoughtfully. "It's possible we're still all together in a nursery." 

"How many of you are there?" Liz asked in a small voice. She didn't want to intrude but she'd been wondering about that since the beginning. 

Alec was lost in thought and Biggs seemed too focused on remembering the exact disposition of the buildings from as early in his life as possible so it was CeCe who answered her. 

"For now, the X5 series has an experimental number of subjects. Only four units of 25 soldiers each. In a few years, when they decide we're a success they'll make more." 

"One hundred babies!" Michael exclaimed. "What are you going to do with one hundred babies?!" 

"We'll get to that later," Alec said, his voice not exactly harsh, but not encouraging either. He didn't want to think about that yet. 

"It probably won't be one hundred either, they've already lost some by now. Hopefully not many, but some," CeCe said before going back to the plans. "I think I remember the construction work for that building," she pointed to the barracks, "so it probably isn't there yet." 

"What, you don't remember your tender youth, Ce?" Biggs smirked. 

"Somehow the only thing I remember from my first years is this annoying X5 pain in my ass... Don't know who that might be," CeCe said sweetly. 

"See, Alec, she remembers you," Biggs said and Alec chuckled. 

Alec drew a question mark on the barracks CeCe pointed to. "If ours isn't there, Maxie's probably won't either, but just in case, it's here." He drew another building with a question mark in the opposite side of the base, with all the buildings in between. 

"How do you know that? They kept us apart ALL the time. We didn't even know there were other Units before '09?" Biggs asked, not really surprised that Alec had known nonetheless. 

"Yeah, well, we didn't know before, but we sure as hell knew after. I was curious. When they let us out in late '10 we were supposedly the most loyal and docile of the bunch. I had more freedom to do as I wanted as long as I hid it well," Alec said not looking up from the table. He didn't want to see the expressions on the faces of his friends. It had been a long time ago, and it wasn't as if that had been the worse Manticore did to him. 

Biggs and CeCe went on with their plans: guards, rotations, security, surveillance, scientists, how often the big brass was on site... 

Michael listened carefully. He had never seen anything like it. They were used to land head on into trouble, no preparation, no escape routes, no alternate plans... the closest thing he'd ever done was Max's rescue from Eagle Rock and Nasedo had taken charge of that. He and Isabel had just done as they were told. 

The way the Xs interacted and planned everything, their military instruction appealed to Michael. He knew nothing about all of this, but a part of him recognised the situation. He felt as if he'd been in their place before. Rath's past inside of him came closer to the surface when he was with the transgenics. Michael would've thought that'd be weird or worrying, but, truth was, it felt kind of like coming home. 

Michael paid special attention to Biggs and his place in the group. 

Liz had been watching them too. She'd been getting some empathic bursts now and then. Liz had noticed how her empathy was more prominent when the group was gathered and tension was running high. She had made a chart in her diary of the feelings she'd gotten, from who, and when. That was what she'd been doing when Alec asked for the pen. Kyle's incident had caused quite a stir inside her; she'd gotten emotions from almost everyone. Until now, Alec and Michael were the ones she'd gotten more feelings from. At first that had surprised her. The little she knew of Alec made her think he was used to hide his feelings behind a smirk. And Michael was best known for 'Stonewall Guerin'. It hadn't made any sense that Liz could read them the best. 

Then she'd theorized about that being the exact reason she could read them more easily. They were so used to keep a protective shield in place that their feelings had no way of being expressed. Those feelings were more intense because not a part of them had been shared or released, and that made them more powerful. If that was the case, wasn't it logic than an empath could pick up on them easier than on the milder feelings the rest had? 

It did make sense to her. 

It could also be that she had taken a liking for both of them. Different in kind, but equally intense. Her friendship with Michael had been really important to her the last months; ever since Future Max had told her how he'd died in his time. She had been surprised by the rush of protectiveness she felt for both Michael and Isabel then. And having distanced herself from Max after that incident, she'd watched the rest of the group more closely during her time in the periphery. 

Liz felt Michael's sense of belonging at the moment. It surprised her at first, but the second time she felt the wave of identification with Biggs coming from Michael, Liz realised it had more to do with having found another second who could tell him what his place should be than the soldier in him shining through as he thought. Not that Michael didn't feel closer to Rath, he did. She felt that from him too. But Michael had felt lost since the moment they'd discovered he was Max's second. He'd tried to adapt to his role, but not knowing exactly what that role entitled and Max's reluctance to let him play it out hadn't helped Michael at all. 

And Alec... Well, Alec was even more complicated. First of all, she wasn't clear on how to relate to him. They weren't exactly friends. They didn't know each other well enough for that. But she knew she wanted to be his friend. Maybe. She thought she did. She wasn't really sure what she wanted. Alec was just so... irresistible. And not only because of his looks. 

She had noticed him the moment she saw him. And she hadn't been able to erase from her mind the vision of Alec in only boxers, smiling knowingly at her at Michael's. She had found herself fantasizing about that night quite often since then. About the way his skin would feel at her touch, about the apartment being empty when she brushed past him inside... Liz shook her head, feeling the heat in her cheeks when she noticed Alec looking at her. 

"You okay, Liz?" Alec asked her. 

Liz could only nod and watch him smile at her before he went back to their discussion. 'What I said, irresistible,' Liz thought. It was as if he knew Liz was thinking about him and he loved teasing her and making her blush, and he always managed to make her smile. 

Okay, so Liz wasn't blind. There was no denying he was hot as hell. And he knew it. But it felt like it was more than that. 

If he were a total stranger she'd run into in the street, or a guy from school, Liz would sit down with Maria and a tub of ice cream and gush about his gorgeous smile, the way his eyes would twinkle with mischief, and that ass and the way t-shirts clung to him in all the right places. Liz swallowed hard. Right, moving on. 

But this empathy thing was complicating matters. It was Max all over again. Maria had asked her in the beginning how she could have fallen so hard so fast for Max. It wasn't normal. And Liz had explained to her how the connection Max opened between them that night after the shooting to calm her fears had been like looking into his soul. She knew all she needed to know about Max then. All that process of getting to know each other, of finding out what you meant for each other, what was important for him, what he felt, what he wanted... all gone in a minute. 

And feeling Alec's feelings made him more than just a crush, a case of 'wow, what a hunk, well what's next?' 

Liz felt torn because she wasn't sure she was ready for even liking someone new. Her relationship with Max had been totally draining, and she really only wanted to have some fun for a while. If the situation were different, Alec would be the perfect choice for that, she was sure of it. Alec could be her crazy adventure and Liz would get her shallow, exciting, daring, all out fun experience. 

According to CeCe that was Alec's speciality... Well, actually he was the one-night-stand King back in Seattle. But with Liz's empathy that possibility was out the window now. It would never be just that for her. 

Which got her back to square one. Liz didn't know where she stood or what she wanted. 

"We're here," Kyle yelled, interrupting Liz's musings. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Copper Summit was a ghost town. Deserted streets, empty buildings, silent hallways... The only thing they found was shredded skin everywhere they looked. 

"So these things are like space suits for those skin-aliens you mentioned?" Maxie asked, her disgust evident in her voice and face while she help a piece of something like snake skin between two fingers. 

"Husks," Max corrected her. "It was more like a body suit, but yeah, that's it." 

They all watched it disintegrate in Maxie's hand. 

"Eww," she said, rubbing her hand on her pants. 

"This place is rather big," Alec observed. "Maybe we should split." 

"East, west, north, south," Biggs said pointing in turn. "If you find anything call the others." 

Practically all of them had their own cell phones. The Xs had discovered they could call each other's cells and they could call other phones but the phones from this time couldn't reach them. Weird, but there was nothing they could do about it. 

They split in four groups. 

"Michael go to the place where you found the husks," Max called to him from the other end of the street before going into the building that housed the Universal Friendship League. 

Michael lowered the hand he'd raised to let Max know he'd heard him and pointed a building down the street to Biggs. 

"Tell me, what do I need to know about these skins?" Biggs asked walking down the street. 

Michael went through all they knew about them in his mind, including Courtney and what she'd told him about the few skins that supported him instead of Max, but he didn't really need to get into that part of the story with Biggs. Actually, she had been part of the problem Michael had faced for a while now. His place in the group. 

Biggs was waiting for Michael to talk. He'd had the impression Michael wanted to talk to him a couple of times the past few days, but something always came up. 

"They're the followers of the guy who killed us and took Max's throne. They can't survive in Earth without the husks. We destroyed the new husks right before the old ones were about to die." 

"Die?" 

"Yeah, those things are alive. But they only last about fifty years. They came following us after the Crash in '47 so..." Michael trailed off, remembering how Courtney's hush had deteriorated right before his eyes because it hadn't been ready for harvesting. He shook his head to clear the images. "You kill them by hitting them in the lower back, right here," he said, turning around and pointing to the spot in his back. "That breaks the seal in the husk and they disintegrate, like the skin patch earlier." 

"Right," Biggs said. "Less messy that way," he said off-handedly. 

Michael's head snapped in his direction. That was the perfect opening he'd been waiting for. Had Biggs know? 

"So, I guess you've killed, right?" Michael asked the older man. 

"Yes. In combat mostly. But not only. Life since we got out of Manticore hasn't been a walk in the park. We've had to fight for our lives," Biggs said carefully. He suspected that was what he wanted to talk about when he saw Michael's behaviour when the group had been discussing Pierce. Michael had said he'd killed the guy. For a seventeen year old 'boy' who had never killed before that must have been a tough experience. 

"In self-defence?" Michael pressed Biggs. 

They were in the basement under the barn already, taking in and searching in the destruction left after the explosion. 

"We were made and bred to kill, Michael. Told it was the right thing to do, the only thing to do, since we were old enough to comprehend the words. And that was very early on. We were trained in the use of fire weapons since the moment we could hold their weight," Biggs said, one eye in what he was doing, the other one in Michael. "I was thirteen the first time I was deployed into a war-field. Five minutes into the battle and I'd already had my first kill. I was a soldier at war, and I killed an enemy soldier." 

"But that's different," Michael said. 

"Not really. It's kill or be killed. Just like it was the first time after Manticore. I wasn't at war then, I wasn't on a mission, I wasn't following orders. I was chased and corner by an NSA team whose orders were to kill me." Biggs stopped searching around and turned to look at Michael directly. "The day before we left on the mission that ended us here, I was with CeCe in a supply run. A group of Familiars got a read on us and we had a big fight. One of them had CeCe in his sights, and was about to shoot. I didn't even think. I just killed him. And I would do it again. My family comes first. I protect mine," Biggs said simply. 

Michael nodded, he hadn't doubted when Pierce had been about to kill Max either. He didn't think he'd ever have to think about it. If any of them were in danger Michael would do anything to protect them. 

"It doesn't mean you're a bad person, Michael. It doesn't make you a killer," Biggs said confidently but he could see in Michael's eyes that he wasn't convinced. "You don't have to like it, Michael. I don't like it. I don't enjoy killing people. That's just the way it is." 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Isabel closed the drawer she was going through in the sheriff's office. 

"Anything?" Alex's voice came from down the corridor where the cells were. 

"No," Isabel yelled back at him. "They must have cleared out before coming to Roswell for revenge." 

Alex came into the office. "That was one weird experience," he said. 

Isabel looked up at him. "What was it like? We've never talked about it." 

"Yeah, well, that's because you weren't into the whole Whitman loving back then, Miss Evans," Alex said playfully. 

Isabel smiled coyly at him, rising from the desk and walking towards him, hips swaying, her long ponytail bouncing with each step. "I am so sorry about that. How can I ever make it up to you?" she whispered in his ear. 

Alex swallowed hard. She got to him every time. It didn't matter that they were officially together and he knew how much Isabel cared about him. She would still make his stomach do back flips every time she looked at him like that. And Alex loved it. 

Isabel watched his eyes darken and leaned into him, her lips brushing over his, teasing him. Alex hugged her to him, one hand splayed over her lower back, the other one caressing the back of her neck. His kiss made her dizzy and Isabel wondered how the touch of this guy could make her melt. 

She was breathless when she pulled away, and she cursed her need for air. She wanted to keep kissing Alex forever. 

Alex chuckled at the look in her face. "You know, Izzy, it feels pretty good to be the one who put that expression on you," he teased her, expecting her to blush but she surprised him. 

"Yes, I know. I love doing it to you too." Isabel laughed at his face. He was just so cute. "You were telling me what it felt like to disappear?" she reminded him. 

"You want me to think, and even talk, now?" he asked. 

"Yes, tell me on our way out," Isabel said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out the door, going to meet Maxie in the building next door. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

"So, how exactly does that work?" 

Biggs looked up towards Michael; not knowing what he meant, Biggs raised an eyebrow asking Michael to clarify. 

"You're Alec's second, right?" Michael asked. They hadn't come out and said so, but the way they all interacted had seemed to point that way. 

"Not officially. Alec was CO of our Unit until '09. Then, he was pulled from the Unit and we didn't see him again until '12. By then we had another CO, of course, and I was SIC. But Alec always acted like a CO for us, and we consider him to be so. He went away for more than a year again around '17. When he came back he had stopped acting like our CO. He'd had a rough time as a solo operative. But we still consider him our CO. We always have." 

Michael was fascinated by all of it. He couldn't imagine how their lives had been. But the way Biggs talked about Alec was telling. How good a CO Alec must have been when only ten to ensure the loyalty of his Unit so absolutely, unwaveringly. 

"And what exactly is your role as his second?" Michael asked. 

Biggs thought about that before answering. "Well, we're out of Manticore now. We're not exactly a Unit. If you ask Max, she'd tell you we're not soldiers anymore," Biggs started. They had searched almost their whole side of town and, having found anything at all so far, they were more relaxed now, walking side by side. "But we are. It's second nature to us to adopt military roles. But Alec's first and foremost my friend," Biggs stressed the last word and Michael nodded. "We're a team. He needs me and I need him. The fact that he's CO and I'm Second in Command doesn't make me inferior in any way. He can't do everything. He needs me to do my part. To get his back, you understand?" Michael was taking in every word. "And he knows I'm gonna be there, the same way I know and trust that he's gonna be there for me. You can't doubt your team when you're in danger, Michael." 

"Yeah," Michael said, remembering his own words to Max in Vegas: _'Whoever sent us down here was smart, you know, because they sent us together. And as long as we stick together, we're gonna make it.'_

"Aren't you supposed to be a Four Square?" Michael nodded and Biggs went on. "Well, a square has four equal sides, and angles. There's no head in a square. You're a team and each one of you has a role in it. You just have to find yours. When you do, and when you feel comfortable in that role, the rest of them we'll know it and trust you and your judgement to do it. When you get over your insecurities, the rest will too." 

They walked in silence for a while, each lost in thought. Michael was mulling over Biggs's words, and Biggs was thinking over Michael's question and his own answer. Biggs had told him the things he thought Michael needed to know, the real question behind his words. But maybe he hadn't answered the actual question Michael had posed. 

"My role, as Alec's second, is to make sure I do everything in my power to help Alec lead me and keep me safe," Biggs said into the silence, startling Michael. "What is your role as Max's second?" 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

CeCe jumped down from the tree house, landing on her feet. She and Liz were searching the Whitaker home, and she had spotted the tree house in the back yard so, being her usual thorough soldier, she'd decided to check it out. It had been empty, obviously, given that the only child in the house was really a psycho alien killer. 

Liz walked out of the house in time to see CeCe standing up, an amused smile on her face. 

"What's so funny?" Liz asked her, walking down the steps towards the blonde girl. 

"Nothing, I just heard Alec taunting Maxie to do something," CeCe replied, brushing her hands on her pants to wash the dirt away. "He's impossible. He's really enjoying this different Max a lot," she said. 

Liz felt a weird pang somewhere in her chest but shook her head to chase it away. 

"Were they... Back there, I mean?" Liz couldn't actually say the words, not believing she was even asking. 

"No!" CeCe laughed out loud. "Maxie was involved with someone, and Alec wouldn't have known what to do with a girlfriend. They were just friends. Him and Biggs made it their job to make her laugh at least once everyday." Off Liz's confused face, CeCe felt compelled to explain. "She was the leader, and she felt responsible for all of us so she was always worried and tense and miserable." 

Liz nodded encouraging CeCe to go on. 

"So Alec had been trying to cheer her up for months. And when me and Biggs finally showed up, Alec drafted Biggs for the 'Put a Smile on Max's Face' mission," CeCe said, smiling herself remembering some of their antics. 

"You know them really well, don't you?" Liz asked. 

"Yeah," CeCe smiled fondly. "They're like my brothers. We've been together on and off over the years, but we know each other perfectly. We're a team. I was so happy when we found him again." 

They'd finished their search, having found nothing, and were on their way to the meet place. 

"And they would be lost without me," CeCe said smugly, making Liz chuckle. "I mean, don't get me wrong, Biggs and Alec are two of the best soldiers in the world. They're perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, and me -not that I need it, but, you know- but they have this tendency to get distracted so easily. I swear their attention span is worse that that of a fish." CeCe rolled her eyes. "I'm the one that has to bring them back to the mission. I'm the perfect balance. I'm their focus." 

Liz loved hearing about their lives, and not only about Alec's. She was curious about all of them. 

"And I love their sense of humour. It doesn't matter that it's outrageous, womanizing, and all around gross at times. I can't help it. I love them. I love that they consider me one of the guys. Usually it's like they forget I'm a woman, I'm just another soldier of the Unit. They never treat me like I'm less than them. I feel completely at ease with them. Not only safe, but free to be myself. And I know they will always, always have my back. Just like I have theirs." 

They got to the cars before any of the others and sat on the front of the SUV, waiting for them. After a few moments CeCe tensed, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. She jumped down from the car and stretched her arms, releasing the kinks from her back. 

Suddenly she leaped over Liz's head and crushed into the guy that was about to make a grab for Liz, the force of the impact sending them both to the ground, CeCe on top. 

Not even stopping to breathe CeCe rolled the guy face down and smashed her boot on his lower back. 

The skin disintegrated before their eyes. 

"What-?!" Liz exclaimed. She had barely seen the guy before he'd disappeared. She was struck speechless. Her mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out. 

That was how Biggs and Michael found them, when they stepped into that street a moment later. 

"What's up?" Michael asked, watching Liz's impression of a fish out of water. "That's something you don't see every day," he told Biggs. "Parker speechless." 

That seemed to get Liz out of her mental block. "I didn't even see him. How did you know he was a skin?" she asked CeCe. 

"What?" Michael looked around worried. 

Liz ignored him. "He could have been just some guy that was passing through. Or maybe we could have talked to him or something. What if-?" 

"Wo-oh, hold your horses," CeCe cut her off. "I kicked his back, if he was a skin he died, if not... Well, I kicked his back," CeCe finished shrugging. 

"Ce?" Biggs asked. 

"This guy came out of nowhere. He tried to grab Liz. I killed him." 

"Where'd he come from?" Biggs asked. 

"That way." She pointed to the building at her back. 

The four of them went to check it out. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Kyle heard Alec's laughter somewhere in the house. He had snippets of whatever Alec had been teasing Maxie with and Kyle couldn't help his smile. He liked Alec, they had similar sense of humour, and Alec's relationship with Maxie was much like his with Liz. They both loved to tease the girls. But Maxie was a bit more aggressive, or maybe just more guy-like than Liz. They were both strong girls, but you wouldn't catch Liz roughing up a guy in a million years. Maxie on the other hand... And Alec seemed to enjoy it, talk about masochism. 

Of course, even Kyle could see Max didn't want to hurt Alec and, lately, she hit Alec as much as she put him in his place with a sassy remark or, like just now, tickling Alec when he was expecting a slap. They were so childish that sometimes Kyle wondered who the teenagers of the group were. 

"Everything okay, Kyle?" Maria's voice came from the ground floor and Kyle rolled his eyes. She could be so exhausting. 

Kyle muttered a pray for Buddha to give him patience and yelled back, "Yes, Maria." 

"Obsessive much?" Alec told him, walking by the door on his way out. 

"Yeah," Kyle sighed. 

He decided the house was as empty as everything else in this god forsaken town and turned to leave the room when something caught his eye. 

He walked back to the closet, which he hadn't closed all the way before, and opened both doors wide. There was a tiny ray of light coming in through the back. It reflected off a shiny button in one of the jackets hanging inside, that's what had caught his eye. 

There was no window in that wall, and Kyle had thought the room wasn't facing the street, but he made a mental drawing of the house now and realized it should. 

Pushing all the clothes to one side, he came face to face with what only could be a hidden door. He saw the lock and looked around for anything that could help him. Kyle was about to call out to Alec, remembering something about them being clepto-happy, when he saw the same light coming from the ground. Kyle kneeled down on the floor and saw that the door didn't go all the way down to the ground, there was a big enough gap that Kyle could see the room. It was bathed in light, the sun shinning through the window that could be seen from the street. And it was empty. 

Kyle cursed under his breath and then he saw a sheet of paper in the corner of the room, as if it had fallen to the ground and been left behind when they cleared the room. 

"That could have something useful," Kyle said, thinking aloud, and wishing he could reach it from where he was. 

Suddenly, the paper trembled for a second before flying directly to Kyle's hand, next to his face lying on the ground. 

Kyle jerked back with a yelp. "What the f-?!" 

The paper stayed in the ground, exactly where it had stopped. 

"Must have been the wind," Kyle said, his voice unconvinced. He kneeled down again to look at the window. "Closed." 

Kyle stood back up. Maybe he was hallucinating. 

"What happened?" Maria was by his side in an instant. 

Kyle turned to look at the paper, ignoring Maria and Alec, who had stopped in the doorframe. He picked it up and turned the page over. It was blank. 

Kyle put his hand out, the paper clutched in it, and then he opened his hand and wished that Alec had 'it' instead. 

Eyes bulging from their sockets, Kyle saw it fly towards Alec who caught it on reflex. 

"Wow!" Alec exclaimed, his voice drowned out by Maria's scream. 

"OH MY GOD!" 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

"Hey, Alec," CeCe called out. 

"Yeah?" 

"Look what I scored," she said throwing a bottle at him. 

Alec caught it mid-air and read the label, his eyes widening in surprise. He looked up at CeCe with a wide smile. 

"Just for you," CeCe said, winking at him. 

"I love you! Be my mate?" Alec exclaimed and was surprised to hear a growling sound next to him. 

"What's that?" came Liz's voice from behind him, making him forget about it. 

They had stopped in the dessert and lit a fire; they'd had dinner and discussed what they found so far. 

"Scotch," Alec said. "It's been forever since I had any." 

Liz wiggled her nose disgustedly, making Alec laugh. They didn't carry any alcohol with them for two reasons: they were underage and the aliens had funny reactions to it. But Alec and the others were used to drinking beer often, and Alec also missed the strongest flavour of the scotch. 

Liz sat beside him. "Did you just ask CeCe to be your 'mate'?" she asked. 

Alec chocked on the sip of scotch he'd just taken. "Er... no, it was just a joke," he said when he stopped coughing, ignoring CeCe's knowing smirk. 

"Oh, I thought maybe it had something to do with your animal DNA," Liz said in a tone that conveyed her scientific interest. 

Alec smiled. "We're not really animals, Liz," he said, his smile still in place to let her know he wasn't offended or anything. He paused momentarily, "It does have some influence on the way we relate, but nothing so drastic." He didn't want to think too much about why he wanted to tell her that. 

One after another they all gathered around the fire again. They'd talked about the skin that CeCe had killed, and about not having found anything when they went to check out where he came from. And Kyle, Alec and Maria told everyone about Kyle's new found abilities. After the shock had faded, and Kyle had showed them what he could do, they'd discussed why it seemed that Kyle's powers had developed so much sooner than Liz's. They reached the conclusion that it must have been because Kyle had been healed twice, thus accelerating the process. 

Then, they decided that Liz and Kyle should see what else they could do. Isabel explained how she changed molecular structures and Liz and Kyle tried it. 

Surprisingly, Kyle had been better at it. Liz could do small changes but she found it difficult to make the ones she wanted. It was more like she used her energy and something changed, but it was difficult for her to get to do specific things. 

Kyle on the other hand had applied his 'wishing' technique to this task too, and it was quite effective. Only small things for the moment, but Max assured him their own powers had started like that. It was like the mind needed to get used to being able to do these things, as if it needed training, but with practice he would improve. 

"Maybe you're trying too hard," Isabel told Liz after her third failed attempt to change the color of Maria's nail polish. 

"I don't understand, what am I doing wrong?" Liz asked dejectedly. 

Alec had been watching Liz, her intense look of concentration. Something none of the others had when using their powers. At least not for something so small. 

"Liz, what exactly do you think of when you're trying?" he asked. 

Liz looked surprised. "Well, I... I kind of imagine the molecules changing, you know, at the basic level," she said self-consciously. 

The look on Isabel's face told Alec that wasn't something she did. "Maybe you're relying too much on your scientific mind for this, Liz." 

"Yeah, I just want it to change," Isabel said nodding. 

Liz closed her eyes and forced her mind to go blank and do just that. She willed the nail polish to go from blue to white. When she opened her eyes Maria was smiling at her and Liz saw she'd finally changed it. "I did it!" she exclaimed. 

"Well done, Liz," Isabel congratulated her. 

Liz turned to Alec and took his hand to thank him for his help, but now words left her mouth. The moment her flesh touched his, a strange vision filled her mind. 

Liz pulled her hand back immediately, her face pale and her eyes wide. 

"What is it?" Alec asked alarmed. 

"I saw something," she mumbled. 

"You had a flash?" Michael asked her. 

Liz shook her head. "I don't think so, it didn't feel like it," she said, still dazed. "It didn't feel like anything, I just saw it." 

"What did you see?" Alec asked softly, somewhere between apprehensive because she might have seen inside him and concerned about her, she just looked so small to him right then. He had a bad feeling. 

"It was a kid. Really young. You, I think?" she said. 

"Tell me," Alec said. 

It was late and it was already dark. The only light they had was coming from the fire. Liz could barely see the people on the other side of the fire, and the look on Alec's eyes was making everyone on this side of it fade away. She felt as if they were the only ones there. Liz closed her eyes and her vision popped back into her mind. 

"He's strapped to a chair and they're hurting him... there's so much blood, and... this thing in his eye... it's so painful... he's trying to scream but there's something in his mouth... He's so young, his legs barely get to the restraints, and..." 

"The right leg is broken. And the blood comes from a wound on the stomach. Shorn head, a cut above the left eye..." Alec said slowly, waiting for Liz's confirmation. 

"Yeah," she said. 

"Yeah, it's me. I was 10." Alec stood and walked into the night, feeling all eyes on him. 

Silence fell upon the group. They didn't feel like practising their new powers anymore. 

"Ten... that was after we left?" Max asked Biggs, sitting next to her. 

"That was because you left," Biggs corrected her, his voice slightly bitter and accusing. Max's face fell, guilt plain in her eyes, and Biggs took her hand, squeezing softly, apologizing without words. 

It hadn't been his intention to take it out on her but the escape had been a sore point with all of them for so long and, later on, Alec had gotten so much worse than everyone else because of his psycho twin... 

Liz got to her feet and started walking in the direction of Alec had disappeared to, but before she could take two steps Biggs's hand on her wrist stopped her. She looked at him. 

"Hey, Liz, why don't you try and fix this tear," he pointed to his sleeve where a small hole could be seen. 

"I was-" she started to say, pointing after Alec. 

"I know," Biggs cut her, "But you shouldn't. Give him some time. He'll be fine," Biggs reassured her. 

Liz sat down beside Biggs and closed her eyes, trying to clear her head, pushing her vision away, so she could focus into fixing Biggs's T-shirt. She waved her hand over it and a big smile lit her face when she saw the hole vanish. 

"Great job, Liz. You're getting it real fast, now you just need practice," Isabel said. 

"Yeah," Liz agreed happily. She glanced back into the night for a moment, her smile faltering, before she shook her head and looked back to the group, ready to practise a bit more. 

Almost an hour later, Alec still wasn't back. The group had turned in for the night already, not asleep yet, but talking quietly with the person lying next to them. 

Liz had gone to the RV to brush her teeth before turning in herself but, when she realised there was still one missing, she took a flashlight and walked in the direction Alec had gone. 

He hadn't gone far. Liz found him quickly, sitting on a rock, his back to her. 

"Alec?" she called out to him softly, sure that he had already heard her coming. But he didn't give any indication of having heard Liz. She approached him and put one hand on his shoulder to get his attention. 

The flash was so sudden it took her breath away. It was the same from her vision, but this time it came with all the feelings of the moment. This time Liz felt all the hurt Alec was feeling that day. 

She gasped, the pain so huge it knocked her down. Her leg felt like it'd fallen off and her stomach was on fire. And her head seemed about to explode. 

"Liz!" 

She heard Alec calling her name but it sounded so far away. 

Alec didn't know what to do. He'd been lost in his memories, wondering why would Liz see that when he hadn't even thought about that moment in a long time, and suddenly Liz was on the ground at his feet and in pain, if her sounds were anything to go by. 

"Liz, talk to me," he said shaking her shoulders, but Liz only tried to shy away from his touch. 

Alec stepped back. "I'm getting Evans." 

"No!" Liz gasped. "Flash," she managed to get out. 

And Alec understood. She had gotten a flash from him and with what had been on his mind it was no wonder she was about to faint with the pain. 

Alec forced his mind to go blank, pushing the memory to the back of his mind with all the other painful moments of his life. He had a lot of practice making the pain go away, not gone, but hidden. A moment later he was kneeling beside Liz again, taking her in his arms. She tried to get away again but Alec didn't let her this time. 

He scooped her up and sat back down on the rock where he'd been before, cuddling Liz on his lap. 

"Shh, it's okay, Liz. It's gone," he murmured into her hair, cradling her against his chest. "It's all right." 

"Hurts," Liz whimpered. 

"I know, I'm sorry. It's gone now, I promise." 

Alec kept running his fingers through her hair and making circles on her back, murmuring reassurances in her ear, soothing her pain. 

What felt like hours later to Alec, Liz stopped trembling in his arms and he felt her relax in his embrace. He raised his head that had been resting on her hair, and he saw that she'd fallen asleep. Alec studied her face intently. She looked peaceful now but her eyes were swollen and she had tear tracks in her cheeks. And she'd bitten her lower lip too hard and a drop of blood made its way to the surface. 

Alec felt his heart constrict in his chest at the sight. He felt horrible for causing so much pain to Liz. And strangely at peace holding her in his arms now. 

Carefully, Alec stood with Liz safely tuck in his arms and he made his way back to the group. 

They were all asleep by now, 'At least all those who normally slept,' Alec thought seeing Maxie's figure walking in the distance. 

"Alec?" 

Or not. Alec looked at Biggs who, he could see now, had been waiting for him. Probably for Liz too. 

"It's fine, Biggs," Alec said in a really low voice that only Biggs could hear, not wanting to wake anyone, especially not the girl in his arms. 

"Liz?" Biggs questioned him, his voice as low as Alec's had been. 

"Asleep." 

Biggs nodded and lied back down. Alec kneeled next to Liz's bedroll, which was next to his own, and put Liz carefully on top of her blankets. It was too hot and everyone was sleeping over the blankets rather than inside the bedrolls. He pulled his arm from under Liz's legs and was about to take the other one from under her body but Liz had other ideas. 

Liz was asleep, her conscious mind lost in dreamland, but some part of her mind was vaguely aware that she felt safe, and comfortable, and just plain good. She felt herself being lowered to the ground and her bubble of comfort about to be broken so she tried to hold onto it a bit longer. 

Alec felt Liz grab onto him, one hand clutching at his shirt, on his chest, the other one that had been around his neck holding him down. He looked around, trying to decide what to do and then just shrugged. Whatever the lady wanted. 

Alec lied down beside her, on his back, and pulled Liz close to him. She snuggled against his chest, laying her head on him and then fell back into slumber. 

Alec kept caressing her back, his eyes staring at the stars, his mind going black again. He wouldn't let the memories come, not while Liz was close. He stayed awake most of the night. After all, given their recent activities, it didn't hurt to keep someone on watch. 

TBC 

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Please, please, please... REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 6

Thank you everyone for the reviews. I know it's been forever, I'm sorry. But here's the next chapter. 

This chapter takes place a week after the last one and the scenes in italics are flashbacks from that week. 

And of course, thanks Itay! 

**Chapter 6**

"Why exactly are we stuck with housekeeping?" Maria whined, watching Isabel check the labels of every single product in the aisle rejecting one after another for God knew what reason. "Nevermind," she sighed. "Being human sucks," Maria muttered. Why couldn't she have some cool powers, or even a useful good ol' human skill they could use? 

"Maria, quit complaining or I'll be forced to issue an invitation to the 'former-human, currently-alien-in-the-making' club. And I won't wait for Max to ratify your invitation, if you know what I mean," Isabel said sweetly. 

"Remind me why I decided we could spend a whole afternoon by ourselves without killing each other," Maria asked. 

"Because you didn't have a choice. Michael couldn't take you with him, there was no room in Alec's bike for you to go with Liz, Alex says you're allergic to computers," Isabel snorted at that. "More like he can't concentrate with your constant chatter," she said, avoiding Maria's attempt at slapping her arm. "And, because you can't resist shopping, even if it's with me." 

Maria seemed to think about that for a minute. "We're hitting the clothes section later, right?" 

"Absolutely," Isabel assured her. 

"Okay, I can work with that. So, what's next on the list?" Maria rubbed her hands in a 'let's-get-to-work' fashion, the promise of shopping giving her new energies. 

Isabel checked her list. "Let's see, we have the bath stuff already, and we're almost done with the food," she crossed from her list the last item she'd dumped in the trolley. "Who thought it would take this much food to feed all of us? I thought what I bought three days ago would hold for a whole week!" Isabel exclaimed. "My God, those people can eat!" She looked at Maria for support. 

"And I thought Michael was a glutton," Maria readily agreed. 

"Yeah... okay, the next thing is... pork rinds and beer?" Isabel rolled her eyes. "Who let Alec anywhere near the list?" 

"The man likes his junk food," Maria laughed, looking over the list. "But that's Liz's handwriting," Maria said in a sing-song tone. 

They looked at each other in silence, not sure what to say. Finally, Isabel spoke hesitantly. 

"Are you okay with that?" she asked. 

"That Liz likes him?" Maria said, "You?" 

"Yeah," Isabel said, too quickly. "It's just... it's weird, you know," Isabel elaborated when Maria kept looking at her, eyebrow raised, obviously not believing her. "This whole thing started with her..." she trailed off. 

"And Max," Maria finished for her. "I know. It's weird to see Liz not pining for your brother. But I'm not sorry for it," Maria said, almost challenging Isabel to disagree. 

"Me neither," Isabel said sincerely. "I love my brother... It just didn't work out for them. I'm happy she's been able to let go." 

"Yeah," Maria said, stopping in front of the beer shelf, looking at the rack full of the bottles that represented everything Max was not. "But it's hard for Max, I'm sorry for him," Maria said sympathetically, her mind going back almost a week to that morning when they'd awakened to find Liz sleeping in Alec's arms, and Max looking on with an infinite sadness in his eyes... 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

_The morning sun bathed the sleeping figures... and the waking ones. A dark haired girl sat atop the big white vehicle, watching the horizon, glancing to the rest of the group from time to time. Never for too long, though. She didn't want the boy to see her watching him, certain that he wouldn't like to be caught staring at the sweet looking sleeping couple._

I didn't think it'd feel like this, _Max thought, his eyes sad. _Like there's this hole where she used to be and I can barely breathe. _He knew Maxie had seen him but he couldn't make himself look away for the world. They had decided to forget and move on. He knew it was the best thing to do for her but, God, it hurt. _

Liz snuggled into her pillow and sighed contentedly. She'd been having the best dream. She couldn't remember what it was about, only that it had felt good. Then her pillow hugged her back and Liz's eyes opened in surprise. She let go of Alec and scooted backwards ungracefully. 

Alec stirred when he felt Liz moving and opened one eye slightly, trying to avoid direct sunlight. "Morning, Liz," he said with sleepy voice and endearing smile, he looked like a little kid, and suddenly Liz regretted having moved so hastily. 

"Hi," she managed to get out past her dry lips and blank mind, transfixed by the man lying beside her. She couldn't tear her eyes from his, his lips, his face. 

A muffled laugh snapped her out of it and she turned to see Maria, hands on Michael's mouth, glaring at her boyfriend. 

Liz blushed and got to her feet, her eyes trained on her own hands. She didn't want to see anyone else's reaction. Especially not Alec's. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Liz shook her head imperceptibly against Alec's back, trying to rid herself of the memory of that morning. It had been almost a week since that day and her mind had done wonders mixing this new favorite memory with her old one of Alec in only boxers which left her with a permanent blush and being the target of an especially-inspired Kyle. 

And being pressed to Alec's back, her arms wrapping his waist, her thighs pressed against his, her cheek resting on his back, wasn't helping her to banish that memory-slash-fantasy from her mind. 

The first thing Alec had done, once they'd settled in the appartment they were staying in while in the city, had been 'getting' himself a bike. He didn't say how and the others didn't ask. But after he got Max and Isabel's look of disapproval a few times, basically everytime they saw the bike, Alec had regaled all of them with the tale of his adventures in a clandestine poker game. He described all the players and their bodyguards, and their 'lucky charms', complete with ticks, funny accents and air-head comments. He'd said Liz and Maria were looking bored and that's why he'd told them, but Liz knew he'd done it so they all knew he hadn't stolen the bike. He'd won the money. Yes, it had been gambling, and cheating probably, but still 'legal'. 

The bike was a dark blue 2001 Honda CBR600F4 -Alec had said the name all proud, and Biggs, Maxie, Michael and Kyle had looked dutifully awed; the rest of them had smiled and thought 'pretty'- and Liz loved riding on it with Alec. He and Maxie had gone racing last night and they'd taken her and Maria saying they needed to loosen up. "Come on, little girls, live a little!" Alec had said. 

Lost in thought, Liz was surprised to find they'd stopped in front of a big building complex. Night had fallen already and there were no lights in the area except for a lonely street lamp some distance away. 

"Where are we?" Liz asked, stepping down from the bike and removing her helmet. 

Alec pointed to the dark building. "I thought you could use that," he said shrugging. 

Liz looked up; it was too dark for her to read the sign over the front door. The whole place seemed abandoned. 

"Jensen's Bio Research Labs," Alec told her, knowing she couldn't see for herself. "It's closed at the moment. They're reforming the south wing and the staff from the north complained the noises didn't let them work. If you ask me, I'd say they just wanted off-time. The important thing is that it's completely equipped and empty. After you," he finished with a flourish. 

Liz looked at Alec and then the lab, back to Alec and the folder he was holding in one hand having just gotten it out from under the seat of the bike. Understanding dawning, she took the folder from his hand and started for the door. 

When they reached the gate Alec kneeled down and picked the lock. Liz looked around worried; they were doing this in plain sight. 

"Relax, Liz, I've got it covered. It's not as if this is the first time I do this. There's no one in at least two blocks. I'd hear it." 

The lock open clicked open and they went inside. The hall was dark and dusty, the entry to the left hallway was messy and littered with construction tools; the one to the right wing was still clear. "That way, I hope," Liz said, pointing to the clear doorway. 

Alec took her hand, rolling his eyes. "Yes, Liz, this way. I told you the labs were in the clear. No trust these girls," he sighed dramatically. 

Liz smiled. "This happen a lot to you, Alec?" she teased. Alec ignored her. "You know, girls not believing one word out of your mouth? Because I can't say I blame them." 

"I liked the shy, quiet girl routine better," Alec mock grumbled, the laughing eyes denying his words. 

"Your bad, then," Liz said smugly. "You've spent the last week pushing me around, to loosen my tongue, your words. Now deal with it." 

Alec chuckled. "Yes, ma'am." 

"How did you find this place anyway?" 

"What, you think that I just like to look pretty riding my bike?" Alec teased her. 

"Yes," Liz said bluntly and laughed at Alec's glare. 

"I'll have you know I'm much more than a devilishly handsome guy; it hurts me that you don't see how intelligent I am. Really, I am," Alec said, a hand over his heart and a puppy face in place. 

Liz rolled her eyes. "So you've been looking for a lab all these nights?" she asked, knowing Alec could keep the play acting all night if she let him. 

"Not really. We talked about this yesterday and I thought I'd check it out last night after we dropped you girls off. The rest of nights I just looked pretty riding my bike," Alec said shrugging. "I found it last night and I checked it was empty today." 

"You talked about this yesterday?" 

"Yeah, after the 'key' thing... I think you went with Maria somewhere before we got to this folder." 

Liz nodded. Maria had insisted she needed to talk to her and they'd gone on an ice cream run. The group had been discussing some of their plans before, but she'd thought they were already done with that. Apparently she'd been wrong. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

_Liz saw Alec pass by her door on his way to the kitchen. Max and Michael were sitting at the counter, all the stuff they'd found in Tess's bedroom spread in front of them. _

"...So we have no way of knowing what this is?" Alec heard the end of Michael's question with his head in the fridge looking for a drink. He looked over Evans's shoulder at the objects laid on the counter: a few hand-written papers; something that looked like a rock, but it obviously wasn't, a black triangle with a whole in the middle; another pentagon like the one in Michael's box with the colors inverted; some kind of jewel in a glass box, it looked like a diamond but the color was indefinable, somewhere between pure white light, shiny silver and the grey of a stormish sky, Alec thought it looked like a raging star trapped in a glass box. 

Evans caught him staring at it and took it in his palm. He raised it to his eyes to see it better and both Michael and Alec inched closer to get a better look, Alec's thirst forgotten. It seemed to be floating in the middle of the box. 

"This is the Queen's crown," Evans said softly, his eyes lost in the wonder before him. 

"How do you know that?" Michael asked at the same time Alec observed, "It doesn't have any mark or cut where it'd go in a frame," his voice sounded skeptical. "This piece has never been mounted on a crown." 

"And I repeat, how do you know that?" Michael asked again, this time to Alec, who shrugged in response. 

"Enhanced eyesight, I have very sharp eyes." 

Michael nodded; the daily proof of the transgenics' peculiarities still seemed to surprise him. He then looked back to Max who hadn't looked away from the Antarian jewel. 

"I saw it on a vision," Max explained, feeling the others' eyes on him. "And, Alec, this IS the crown. When the King marries the Queen this gem becomes a part of her, taking place in her forehead as a symbol of her royalty. I have the seal, she has the crown." 

Silence met his words. Alec was trying to picture a girl with a rock embedded in her forehead and all he could come up with was 'gore'. Michael was debating if he should voice his concern about the reliability of those visions Max had had when working with Tess, but then his eyes glazed over and he saw a flash of light shining on his eyes and when it faded the image of a beautiful face with the royal crown on her forehead floated in his mind. The crown looked like it belonged there, like it has always been there. Michael felt _it belonged there. And with that feeling came the certainty that the woman wasn't Ava, she was Zan's mother. _

"Michael!" 

"You okay, man?" 

Michael blinked and looked at the counter where the crown rested. Max's hands were on his shoulders now. 

"Where'd you go?" Max asked him. 

"Antar..." Michael said, his voice awed. "It was just a second but... I saw your mother," he told Max. 

"Yeah, I saw the crown on her too. I never saw Ava wearing it." 

"Michael, is everything alright?" Maria asked. Most of the group was present now, having heard Max's raised voice while trying to snap Michael out of it. 

"Yes, Maria, don't worry," Michael reassured her, his eyes drawn back to the crown again. This had been the first time Michael had experienced a memory flash from Rath. 

Alec let his gaze all the things on the counter again and his eyes stopped on one of the papers. One with a drawing on it. "What's that?" he asked pointing at it. "Another 'crown'?" 

Michael and Max turned to see what he was talking about "Oh, that," Max said taking the letter and skimming it for the umpteenth time. "It's a letter from Nasedo to Tess. He gives her instructions on how to operate the ship we came in if she ever needed to. This," he pointed to the drawing of the diamond, "is the key that starts the ship." 

Alec looked at Biggs, who had come into the room with Maria and the rest and was looking at him, eyebrow raised, 'your call' it said. Obviously he'd recognised the diamond too. 

Max was still talking. "...But it doesn't matter much since we have none. The ship is probably somewhere hidden by the government and the key... Well, Tess didn't have it so..." he trailed off. 

"Well, then, congratulations," Alec said, nodding to Biggs who then left the room. "I'm not sure how much use will it be to you but better in your hands that with your enemies, right?" Alec went on. 

"What are you talking about, Alec?" Isabel voiced what they were all thinking. 

Biggs re-entered the room, a black pouch in his hand, all eyes on him. "Here you go, Alec," he said handing him the bag. Alec took it and upturned it, the diamonds falling on the counter and spreading over the papers. Over a dozen middle sized diamonds, seven rubies and a dozen of various gems. And in the middle of them all, the huge rock, the main attraction of the show. The aliens's 'key'. 

"Where did you get that?!" Michael exclaimed, all their eyes fixed on the counter... 

...but not all of them fixed on the key. 

"Hm... Biggs?" Alec asked with an amused eyebrow raised. 

"Yeah... that... I had some extra time," he shrugged unapologetic, "TC needed the money." 

"Right," Alec agreed and then turned to Max. "This is the reason we're here actually. In 2021 a man called Cal Langley contacted the transgenics and offered an insane amount of money if we could get that diamond for him," he said. 

"Cal Langley," Max repeated. "I don't know him." 

"He was adamant. Rumour had it he'd been trying to get that diamond for over twenty years but he didn't want it traced back to him." 

"We'll have to look into it," Max decided. 

"What did you mean it's the reason you're here?" Liz asked. 

"We came here to steal it. The diamond belonged to a Delores Browning and it's on a permanent loan at the Tate Museum in London, but for a week every year it hits an exhibition in Las Cruces. We were on our way back to Seattle after stealing the rocks when the Granolith brought us here." 

"So that's the key from 'your' time," Liz observed, her mind reeling. "Does that mean there's another one in London right now?" 

"I guess," Alec said. "I mean, I don't know what happened to the key of this time, if anything, but if it's still there it should be back in London by now, yeah," Alec said. 

"We'll deal with that later. Right now we should concentrate on that bank safe box," Michael said with finality. 

They all seemed to agree, some were nodding and others were going back to what they'd been doing before. Michael saw Maria whisper something in Liz's ear and she nodded at her. Both girls took their phones and keys from the table by the door and left the apartment after saying goodbye to the group. Michael pushed his curiosity out of his mind and turned his attention back to the conversation going on in the kitchen: how to infiltrate a bank. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

"Michael, you with me?" Biggs snapped his fingers in Michael's face. 

Michael blinked, the dying sunlight had blinded him for a moment reminding him of the flash he'd had yesterday. 

"Yeah, sorry, my mind wandered for a second there." Michael shook his head and went back to watching the bank. 

Biggs was watching Michael. He and Alec had talked about Michael last night. They'd agreed on having a chat with the boy, and this recon stint looked like the perfect opportunity. His gaze followed Michael's across the street to the bank. 

"So, I've noticed you're the 'shoot first, ask later' kinda guy," Biggs said suddenly. 

Michael looked at him bewildered, both for the comment and the wording. 

"It's just a figure of speech, Michael," Biggs chuckled. "I meant you're on the impulsive side, or am I wrong?" 

Michael scratched his eyebrow, "Guess not," he said reluctantly. 

"Well, we can work on changing that, what do you say?" Biggs offered, knowing it would work better if Michael showed an interest. 

"Sure, that's what I came with you for," Michael agreed. 

"Good. The first thing you have to remember when preparing a heist, be it stealing diamonds or faking your way into a safe box," Biggs started, his attention never leaving his mark, "Is that reconnaissance is your Bible. You depend on it from the beginning to the end. Your plan is only as good as your recon is. The bigger the job, the more important the recon. You need to watch your mark." Biggs gestured between them and the building opposite them. "You gear yourself with a pair of binoculars and a notebook and find a good stake out point." 

Biggs paused to focus his gaze on one of the guards of the bank leaving his post at the entrance to escort a client to the door that lead to the offices. Interesting. When he glanced back to Michael he saw the curious look he was giving his own binoculars and the obvious lack of them in Biggs's own hands. 

"Cat's eyes and photographic memory. I don't need any of those, I meant for you," Biggs explained. 

"Right," Michael nodded. "So, I'm supposed to sit here and write down... what exactly?" 

"Everything. Opening/closing time; when there's a guard shift; when they get deliveries; when the clerks have their breaks; how many people form the staff: security, maintenance, admins, messengers; how many entrances, exits, including emergency ones; anything out of the ordinary; anything that happens twice; what brands they use for paper, coffee, toilet paper..." he trailed off. Michael was nodding his head but had an amused expression on his face. "What is the most important thing you need to know about that bank?" Biggs pointed at it. 

Michael looked down. "The brand of underwear the doorman's wearing?" he said sarcastically, watching said man open the door for a client. 

"Exactly," Biggs agreed laughing. "I know it sounds like a waste of time, Michael, but the bit of information you least expect can save your life. Improvisation is a great skill, really useful, but only as a plus. If you rely only on it you won't make it to learn the lesson." 

"Got it." 

"There are, of course, other things you need to know about the fine art of spying, like for example... What are you doing wearing that hideous green hat?" Biggs pointed to Michael's bare head, an incredulous expression on his face. 

Michael's face scrunched up in confusion for a second, then a look of sudden understanding and he started talking. "I totally forgot about it," he said, his hand already pointing behind himself. "It was the weirdest thing, two blocks back I ran into this crazy old lady wearing three of these, one on top of the other, and she was trying to get rid of them. She looked so pathetic and desperate I just couldn't say no to her and now I'm stuck with this horrible thing. Just wait till Maria sees it. This'll be a big no-no for her, trust me." 

Biggs was laughing out loud by then. "That was really good, Michael. A crazy old lady, I gotta tell Alec that one, he'll love it," he said, the laughing fading out. "Fast thinking," he complimented Michael. 

"Yeah, well, I'm an alien hiding in plain sight. I'm used to lying. Teachers, social services, nosy neighbours, concerned parents, police, judges... Lying is second nature to all of us by now." 

Biggs nodded in agreement. It made sense. He chuckled again. Michael's face while talking about a demented lady had been hilarious. 

Michael laughed too. "Are you always this clown-y?" 

Biggs smirked at that. "Always, ask CeCe. Alec and I drive her crazy." 

Both guys went back to watching the bank. The big sign over the front door and, to its right, the big logo Michael had seen in his flash from Pierce's key. The reason they'd come to Washington D. C. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

_The night had done well to the group. Everyone looked more relaxed and rested. They'd passed one whole day without blowing anything up, a feat considering their track. _

Breakfast was awkward, for different reasons to different people. The revelation of Alec's past, Kyle's new powers... the sleeping arrangements. Not even Alex's attempts to lift the mood did much. 

Kyle asked to drive, "I don't mind what," he'd said, looking hopeful at Maxie, who gave a snort and an "I don't think so, kid" and mounted on her bike, revved up and left raising a cloud of dust on her wake. 

They all piled into the vehicles and got on the road. The plan for the day was to drive to the nearest town big enough to have a cyber café and make an Internet search for the bank Pierce's key belonged to. 

One hour later, Michael, Alex, CeCe, Max and Maria entered the small cafe. Max and Maria sat in one table and the other three in the closest one. The rest of the group had decided it would be better to wait outside. There was no need to crowd the small cafe when only Michael and Alex or CeCe needed to be present. 

Maria ordered coffee for everyone and took them to the tables. She put each mug in front of its respective owner and dropped a kiss on Michael's hair. He smiled at her before focusing his attention back on the screen. The last couple of days the logo had been on his dreams and in the back of his mind when he was awake. Apparently, these flashes of his were pretty insistent. They wanted him to know something and they wouldn't leave him alone until he figured out what. 

Outside, Liz had taken the chance to call her parents. She called every two days, telling them how much fun she was having and everything they saw and did. Every time she thanked Alex for the detailed info he'd pulled from a travelling site. He'd gone to a discussion board and pulled the personal experiences of people who'd visited the places they were supposed to go to, including detailed anecdotes to tell their parents. Liz felt bad having to lie to her parents. That hadn't changed after the two years she'd spent hiding the truth for them. She knew her relationship with her parents had deteriorated because of it, but there were things worth lying for, and the safety of both the aliens and her parents was one of them. The main one, actually. 

"Yes, dad, it was beautiful," Liz said into the phone. "I loved it." Her voice sounded cheery enough but her face was anything but. "Listen, I gotta go. Maria's in one of her whacky moods and she's freaking over Michael's hair again," she said, making sure she sounded half amused, half exasperated. "Yes, I know, I love Maria too," Liz chuckled. "Give my love to mom, I'll call soon, I promise... I love you too... Bye." 

Liz lowered the phone and looked sadly at it. She shook her head to push her gloomy mood away. 

"Sucks lying to people you care about, doesn't it?" Alec commented, a smile that spoke of experience on his face. 

Liz nodded slowly, It's for their own good, _she repeated in her mind. _

"You're close to your parents," Alec said more than asked. "Must be nice to have someone you can go to when you need it." Liz looked at him surprised and he elaborated. "Not that I need to now, but it would have been nice when I was a kid. The handlers at Manticore didn't exactly give the 'I'm here if you need me' vibe." 

"Come on, you let Alec and Biggs drive it," Kyle's whine reached them. 

Alec laughed, he leaned close to Liz and whispered in her ear, "That's the reason she won't let him. I think Maxie won't let anyone else drive it after the last time I took it." He laughed softly, his warm breath caressing her neck, making goose bumps appear all over her tingling skin. 

Alex scrolled down the page, bank after bank appearing on the screen: names, logos, locations... who knew there were so many banks in America. They'd been here almost two hours. They started in the state of New Mexico; then New York, where Pierce was from. When that didn't result they went state for state alphabetically. 

"That's it! That's the one!" Michael exclaimed. 

"Please shoot me now," Alex whined. Then he rounded on CeCe. "Aren't you supposed to have a kick ass IQ? How come none of us thought to check out Washington DC first? Hello, FBI Headquarters?" He hit his head on the table. 

"Is it?" CeCe asked surprised. "It's not in 2021," she said in a low voice. "It's in New York City. That's why I didn't say anything. We'd already checked there. Sorry," she said, not really apologetically. After all it wasn't really her fault. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

CeCe rubbed her eyes tiredly. She hadn't slept much the night before, she'd been feeling restless. She wiped the perspiration off her forehead and went back to work. Once they identified the bank that day in the middle of nowhere they'd been trying to find the way to get what was inside that box. 

When they got to Washington DC they went to the bank to get a first feel for the place. It was a heavily guarded building, apparently important pieces of art and jewelry and they had a lot of security for it. 

They still could have done it without too much hassle. But having the key and the fact that the aliens wanted to be a part of whatever they did led them to this course of action. She and Alex had hacked into bank's files to see the info on Pierce's account and deposit box. It turned out Pierce had added a restriction to the safe box stating only he was allowed to open it. Big shock there. 

"I'm in," she said. 

Alex raised his head from the arm he had extended on the table. "Really?" 

"Yeah, take a look. All we have to do now is change this restriction. We can add someone to it and then we can go in the main door and demand the damn box." 

"That's great! Who are we going to put there?" 

"Let's take a look at his personal file," CeCe said, bringing up the window with Pierce's records from the FBI. "Born in 1972 in New York City. Son of James and Celia Pierce... Here's a possibility: he has a younger sister. It says here Daniel Pierce has a close relationship with his sister and he's been known to bend the rules for her..." 

"Wow, that's one detailed file," Alex observed. 

"Yeah, well it's the FBI; they pride themselves in knowing everything. Still, it's not detailed enough to say that he's dead. According to this, Pierce quit his job after the debacle of the Special Unit and there's no new info him afterwards." 

"Nasedo covered his track well," Alex tried to say it neutrally, but his dislike for the shape-shifter was evident. 

CeCe nodded, she didn't like what she'd heard of the alien either. 

"So, I hear you found the way to read those weird symbols of theirs," she changed the subject, saving all the info they had pulled on the bank and Pierce to discuss it with the others when they got back. 

"Yeah, well, I guess you can say I was really motivated," Alex said sarcastically. "You know, the bitch only had to ask. I mean, she didn't do a thing to my brain aside from forcing me to do her bidding. The knowledge to do the stupid program to decode the book was already there. I would've been happy to help." He paused, thinking back to past times when he'd been 'key' to help the aliens, the blood for Max, the camera for spying Tess, discovering how to kill the Gandarium with Kyle... "It feels good to help them," he said. 

"Yeah, I always feel worthy when I can help one of my unit," she agreed. Then she chuckled, "And believe me, it happens a lot." 

Alex laughed too. He'd gotten to know all of them quite good the past two weeks and he liked CeCe's no-nonsense attitude, and they way she mothered Alec and Biggs. She reminded him of Izzy sometimes. 

But Alec and Biggs sure as hell didn't remind him of Max and Michael... Well, maybe Michael? 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

_Alex entered the apartment, Liz and Maria right behind him, and went to the kitchen to get the ice cream for the girls who went directly to their bedroom. Sitting at the kitchen counter Alex saw Alec and Michael engrossed in conversation. _

"...And there I was, mind in the gutter, Vicky dancing in my face, looking at me like she wants to eat me up," Alec was saying to Michael who was riveted. "I was like, 'mermaid who?', you know, already planning on a nice evening when I see Maxie, thundering face, murdering look, killing me in a thousand ways in her head, walking towards me. So I dismiss the dancer and pull Max on my lap so we don't stick out, White's guy is there, remember?" 

"Sure," Michael said impatiently. 

"And I tell her 'Okay, this would be a good moment to look like we belong here', expecting her to give me at least something that resembles a lap dance, I mean, it's not like I'm into Max or anything but you've seen her?" Alec said and Michael rolled his eyes. Alec chuckled. "Exactly," he agreed. "And you know what she did? She ruffled my hair in the most off turning possible way and passed one finger over my chest as if she was dusting me off," Alec said as if he still couldn't believe it and Michael burst out laughing. "I swear, the worst lap dance ever." He shook his head regretfully. 

Michael was still laughing when Alec's phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the display. He thumbed the okay button and said into the phone: "Yeah." Alec listened for a minute before saying, "I'll see you there." He turned to Michael. "Biggs," he said as an explanation. "I'll be back late," he said wiggling his eyebrows. 

Michael chuckled and waved goodbye. He went to the fridge for a Snapple and sat down again, looking at the three orbs that had been on the counter all along, lost in thought. 

Isabel had all but claimed the one they found at Atherton's, and Max had told him just yesterday that he felt a light pull to one of the other two. Probably the one he found with Liz. 

But he felt nothing. Did that mean his was the missing one? Or was it simply that their senses were more attuned to their alien side? 

Michael remembered Biggs' words. He had to stop second guessing himself. He'd come a long way from the guy who couldn't control his powers. Tess, murdering bitch as she was, had helped him master his alien side; and Maria had helped him come to terms with his human half. 

There was nothing wrong with him. All Michael had to do was believe it. 

"Hey, man, what are you thinking?" Kyle asked, slapping his back. 

"Hey, man, it's nothing," Michael said shrugging. "Hay, Kyle, I've been meaning to talk to you." 

"Uh oh," Kyle joked. 

Michael made a face, "Ha ha. No, listen, I know you and Liz have been practising with your powers, manipulating molecular structures and everything?" He waited for Kyle's nod before going on. "Well, I've been thinking you guys need to practise your own particular powers too. I wouldn't know how to help Liz, I'll leave that to Isabel, it's closer to her thing. But I thought I could give you a hand." 

"Sure," Kyle agreed. "I've been thinking about it myself, you know. It was a real shock when I found out. It doesn't matter that I'd been expecting it or whatever, it still scared the crap out of me," Kyle said lowering his voice. "Liz helped a lot-" 

"Kyle," Michael tried to interrupt, but Kyle didn't let him talk. 

"I know, Michael. I know it's not your fault, and you guys want to help us out." He made a pause, "But it's not the same. Liz is like me, all the way down to having 'died' and been brought back a little more than we were before." 

Michael nodded. He understood, really. Sometimes you needed someone like yourself around. 

"Anyway," Kyle went on, shaking off the serious mood, "I think the best way to deal with this is to take control and make the most of it," Kyle said in a lecturer voice and he saw Michael rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, but if I hadn't found Buddha you'd be dealing with a totally different Kyle right now." Kyle shook his finger in front of Michael's face. 

Michael slapped Kyle's hand away, laughing. "Okay, Buddha junior, what do you say we try some magic?" 

"I'm game," Kyle said, rubbing his hands. "So what do I do?" 

"First things first. Using your powers -the heavy stuff, not changing the color of your shirt- takes a lot of concentration, focus and-" 

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Kyle interrupted him. "As a plus to all the 'Buddhist shit I've been spouting'," Kyle said making air quotes good-naturedly, "I've done a lot of meditation this past year. I'm good with that." 

Michael thought about that. It made sense, and it could be interesting. "So, is that a thing only for Buddhists or can you share some tricks?" he asked. 

Kyle laughed, the image of Michael sitting cross legged, hands on his knees, wearing a robe and chanting 'ohmm' that popped in his mind too much to resist. "Sure," he managed to get out, not looking Michael in the eye. 

Maria came up behind them and put one arm around both their shoulders, her chin resting on Michael's, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

"What are my favorite guys doing?" she asked them. 

Michael turned to kiss her back and winked at her. "What do you say, blondie, wanna meditate with me sometime?" he asked her with a mischievous smirk. 

"Count me in," Maria laughed. 

"Right then, count me out," Kyle chimed in. 

Maria laughed again and went to put the spoons on the sink before leaving them alone again. 

Michael followed her with his eyes, shaking his head. When she closed the door of the bedroom he turned back to Kyle. "So, we could see from how far away you can move things. That's an important thing to know when we're in danger," Michael said. He thought about his own progress since he'd started. "I guess that'll change with time and practice, but we should know what's your starting point. Also, we should see if you need eye-contact to move things, or if you have to know what is it that you're moving." 

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked frowning. 

"I mean, if I said there's 'something' behind me, could you move it even if you don't know what it is?" 

"Right," Kyle nodded. "And how big things can be for me to move them?" he added. "Like could I move you?" he asked smirking. 

Michael scowled at him. "And where would you put me if you could?" he challenged. 

"Oh, the power!" Kyle laughed. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Kyle chuckled, thinking of all the fun he'd had practicing with Michael; especially when Maria and Liz had joined them, volunteering all their complements for experimentation. Kyle could still Michael's scream of horror when he'd discovered himself wearing a girlie hat and purse. 

"Damn, I'm sorry I missed it if you're still laughing at it two days later," Max said from the driver seat. 

"Yeah, it was priceless, man," Kyle told him. He had taken his turn at driving before, just in case, but probably it would be Max driving tomorrow. 

Max followed Maxie's Ninja. She was the expert at Escape and Evade, and Max and Kyle had spent the day following her around the city. She had insisted it was good to know the place like the back of their hands. Which they did now. 

Max's phone rang and he passed it to Kyle. "It's her," he said. 

Kyle took the phone. "Hey, Maxie... Sure... Yeah, I see you... Okay." He hung up and gave it back to Max. "Pull over behind her." 

Max stopped the SUV and Maxie came to the driver's door. "You sure you don't mind taking it back, Kyle? You can find the apartment, right?" 

"Why? Where are we-?" Max started but Kyle cut him off. 

"Sure, Maxie, no problem," he said nudging Max to step out of the car. "Get out, Evans, Maxie wants to take you somewhere." 

"Come on, Evans, I need something and you just volunteered to help me," she said, opening the door and walking back to her bike, not waiting for him. 

"Did she say what she wants?" Max asked Kyle, a bit worried. 

"Nope," Kyle shrugged, "Why, you scared? And remember she can probably hear you?" Kyle added in a whisper. 

"No! Of course not," Max hurried to answer, looking towards Maxie who was suspiciously smiling. 

Max walked to Maxie and the Ninja, the SUV passed by him and Kyle honked in goodbye. 

"Hop on," Maxie said over her shoulder, handing him a helmet. The Xs never wore helmets but they insisted all of them did. 

Max took the helmet and put it on. He sat behind her and put his hands on both sides of her waist. 

Maxie looked down and chuckled. "You better hold tighter than that or you'll fall off." 

Max barely had time to wrap his arms around her waist before she peeled off at a breakneck speed. 

Max had spent the day driving around and getting to know the city but Maxie still lost him. He had no idea of how long they'd been driving or where they were going. But he certainly understood Kyle's enthusiasm with the bike now. 

Maxie stopped outside a park and they both got off the bike. Max looked around curiously. What were they doing there? 

"Let's sit down," Maxie said pointing to a nearby bench and Max followed behind her. 

"What's going on, Maxie?" Max asked a few minutes later when she still hadn't said a word. 

Maxie shifted in her seat, suddenly nervous, then she gave a forced laugh. "What, I can't take you out on a date?" she spluttered. 

Max's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open. He wasn't expecting that. 

This time Maxie's laugh was more natural. "I'm joking, Evans." 

Max chuckled, relieved. Then frowned, not so much disappointed as offended, and she laughed again, the awkwardness broken. 

"Listen, actually, there's something I need to talk to you about," she said tentatively. 

"Is something wrong?" 

"My whole life," Maxie sighed. "Look, Evans, this isn't something I usually tell people... Actually, I've never told anyone," she muttered. Max's eyes widened in surprise and she hurried to explain. "The others know about it, it's not like it's a secret or something, just not the kind of thing you tell new friends..." she trailed off. 

Max felt her discomfort and nervousness, something he'd gotten so rarely from the kick-ass, strong-headed transgenic that made him smile affectionately at her. "Maxie," he nudged her. 

"Right. See, remember that first day when we told you all about Manticore?" she asked him. 

Max was surprised by the change in topic and floundered for a moment before finding his own feet again. "Yes," he said at the same time he thought 'all about' was not the term he'd choose. He knew, all of them knew, they'd only gotten a scratch of the surface. 

"I mentioned the seizures we get, that we escaped because of them..." she waited for him to nod he remembered before going on. "I still have them." 

"Are you alright? Are you sick now?" 

"No, no," Maxie assured him. "I'm fine; believe me you'd know if I wasn't, they're hard to miss. That's not it. Well, not exactly. See, I take these pills to combat the seizures. Tryptophan..." Maxie trailed off, still undecided about asking for help. It was something she'd never done. 

Max waited patiently for her to talk, seeing how difficult it was being for her. 

Maxie took a deep breath. "I took my last pills this morning," she said finally. "And I was wondering if maybe you could..." she doubted again. 

"What, make you more?" Max asked confused. He didn't know much about drugs or pills and he didn't know how much help he could be. 

"Mm, no... I... I thought maybe you could take a look at my brain?" Maxie asked finally, resorting to indifference as a defense mechanism, uncomfortable with the whole thing. 

"Um..." Max didn't know what to say. "You want me looking into your brain?" He wasn't expecting that. Maxie, all the transgenics really, but especially her, was kinda private. Even Alec, who was the more extrovert and open of the four, would clam up when talking about himself. "You understand that I'd have to form a connection to you and I'd see into your mind, right? Memories, dreams, fantasies... When I'm inside I can't control what I'll see, especially if I'm trying to focus all my energy into healing," he explained. 

Maxie was nodding. "I know, I, er, talked to Liz about it. She told me about the connection and how 'intimate' it was," she made air quotes, rolling her eyes at Liz's words, but Max surprised her. 

"It is," he said simply, holding her eyes. Max knew he had to make her understand what she was asking for. He needed her to know what she was getting into. 

"Right," Maxie said softly, her hesitancy returning. Maybe she didn't need his help after all. Tryptophan had to be easier to get here than in Post-Pulse America, right? 

_But you don't want to get more Tryptophan. You hate to depend on those pills. You always have, you always will. This could be your chance to get rid of one of Manticore's holds over you. Isn't that worth opening yourself to Evans?_

"Okay, I can live with that," she said slowly, softly, looking him in the eyes. "You think you can do it?" 

"You haven't told me what is it that I have to do yet. What causes the seizures, do you know?" 

"Yes, it's a serotonin imbalance. My brain doesn't produce enough serotonin." 

"Yeah... I remember that part," Max said, more to himself than Maxie. She looked at him curiously. "I, er, I read up on the human brain after Alex's... 'accident'," he spat. He still could barely say the word 'death'. "I wanted to be sure I had gotten everything damaged so I read everything I could find. The human brain is a tricky thing," he said. 

"Wait till you get a look at mine," Maxie smiled. 

"Right," Max said. He'd almost forgotten about the differences in their make-up. "Okay, I can try." 

"Good," Maxie said relieved. "You wanna do it now?" she asked, making Max smile sheepishly. She laughed and rolled her eyes. 

Max cleared his throat, "No, not here. We should go somewhere private," he said chuckling. 

"You want to go back to the apartment?" Maxie asked. 

"Sure, we'd be okay there." Max got to his feet but her hand on his wrist stopped him. 

"I don't know how the others deal with theirs, or if they were treated at Manticore. I haven't talked to them about it, but I... I don't want people to know... I don't like-" 

"It's okay, Maxie," he cut her off. "I understand." 

They drove back to the apartment and Maxie went directly into the bedroom while Max stopped to talk to CeCe who was still working on the computer with Alex. They walked to the balcony and Max asked about the seizures. CeCe seemed curious about his sudden interest but she didn't voice her thoughts. She probably didn't have to, it didn't take a genius to know what had brought up his questions seeing as how he'd come in with Maxie and, as it turned out, she was the only one dealing with them. 

Max closed the door behind himself. "They got treated at Manticore. They don't suffer from them anymore," he told Maxie, sitting on his bed beside her. 

Maxie nodded, not surprised he'd asked CeCe about it. After all, if he was going to heal her, and they had them too, it was only fair. 

She sat crossed legged in the middle of the bed and he mirrored her. He took one of her hands and held his other hand open for her to put hers in it. Maxie looked down at her hand in his and she smiled self-consciously at him, giving her other hand. "So what now?" she said nervously. 

Max smiled. "Now you have to look into my eyes and let your mind go blank. I'll form a connection and try to find the source of the problem. It might not work, you know that, right? Or I might need a few tries..." 

"I get it. Go ahead," she said. Her mind started to shut down, bit by bit, just as Manticore taught her. 

Max looked into her eyes, trying to open up the connection, but he kept hitting some kind of wall. He blinked and focused his gaze on her face as a whole. Her eyes had gone dead, her features losing all humanity. 

"Maxie?" he said, hesitantly, squeezing her hand. 

She blinked a few times and then looked back at him. 

"Where'd you go?" Max asked her. 

"What do you mean? I let my mind go blank. Like you said," she said defensively. 

"Er... no, you didn't," Max hesitated again, not sure what had happened. "You just left. There was nothing there to connect with." 

Maxie shrugged one shoulder, "You asked, I delivered, pal. Not my problem if you don't know what you want," she said. 

Max just looked at her, waiting. She rolled her eyes. Okay, so maybe that wasn't what he'd asked. 

"Sorry," she said softly, smiling at him. 

"Usually when I tell someone to clear their mind they just try not to think of anything, not..." he trailed off, not knowing what to call what Maxie had done. 

"Yeah, well, I did it the 'Manticore' way." 

"Right," Max said, "So... don't?" 

Maxie chuckled. "Alright, you need me to not think of anything, right?" 

Max nodded and they tried again. Maxie fought the urge to fall back on what she knew, and when she finally got a hold on herself, she found she didn't have anything to hide behind anymore, no armour to protect her feelings, no mask to shield her thoughts. She had never felt so naked. It scared her. The impulse to pull away impossible to ignore. 

Max felt her agitation growing by the second. He knew he was about to lose her. He rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hands, slowly. 

Maxie felt a jolt run from her hands, up her arms, straight to her center. She glanced down briefly and when her eyes returned to his her nerves were calmer. She had asked him for this, he wouldn't hurt her. Maxie lost herself in his eyes, so calm, so warm, so... 

Max saw his chance and ran with it. 

_A slightly younger Maxie twitching on the floor, her knees drawn to her chest, arms clutching at them, her head hitting the wall behind... A bottle of pills lying on the floor by her side..._

Max let the flashes roll over him, he couldn't let himself be distracted. He had a purpose. 

_Maxie in a closed room, pacing around, sweating profusely, barely dressed... She falls to the floor and starts doing push-ups for a moment before racing to the bath..._

Max froze for a second, almost blushing, what was that? A moment later he was mentally shaking his head and moving again. He could see her brain patterns in his mind... _Where's the flaw? _

Maxie running for her life, dressed in a gown, barefoot, her small feet barely marking the snow... Dogs barking, helicopters hovering... Her sister running just ahead of her... They're almost out... Almost... The ground opens up below her feet and frozen water swallows her... 

He found it! Max wasn't sure how he knew that was what needed to be fixed, it looked fine, but he 'knew'. He focused all his energy there. 

_A group of children in the woods, staring up at a tree... There's something in it... Something they've never seen before... Red, shiny, round... Zack gets it from the tree and gives it to her..._

A sheen of perspiration appeared on Max's forehead, his face constricting with the effort. 

_Maxie lying on a bunk, her whole body aches and she can't sleep but she's smiling... There's a shadow on the wall, just for her... She turns to look at Ben... Her brother smiles at her..._

Something 'clicked' in Max's mind and he knew he'd done it. Tension left his body and his faced relaxed. Max let her hands go and wiped his forehead. 

Maxie lowered her gaze, not sure she could look at him knowing he'd seen inside her. "Did it work?" 

"Yes," Max said softly. "I don't know how I know, but it worked." He made a pause then, "I'll try and make some Tryptophan later, just in case, but I don't think you'll ever need it again." 

Maxie looked at him then, the relief and gratitude she felt overcoming her discomfort. "Thank you, Max," she said, a true smile on her lips. 

Max smiled shyly, almost embarrassed, not really used to beautiful girls smiling at him. He looked down at his lap. 

Maxie leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, enjoying the startled look he gave her before shaking his head and muttering something along the lines of "You're welcome". 

"So," Maxie started, trying to sound indifferent and failing. "What, er, what did you see?" 

"You," Max said simply. "I wasn't paying all that much attention. I was trying to heal your brain," he added, trying to put her mind at ease, lowering his head to make eye contact with her. "Although... there was this one flash..." he trailed off. 

"Yeah?" 

"Well, you remember how flashes aren't only images? That we feel what the person felt and everything?" Maxie nodded. "There was this one flash where you were feeling really... strung out... frustrated?" Max ventured, not wanting to come out and say 'horny as hell'. 

"Oh, God, tell me at least I was alone," Maxie said covering her face with her hands. 

"Yeah, yeah, you were doing push-ups and-" 

"I know," she interrupted. "Fuck, I hate them!" she exclaimed. She got up from the bed and paced around the room. "Manticore used feline DNA to make us faster, stronger, yadda, yadda, you know the drill," she said and Max nodded. "Well, apparently they didn't count with the pesky side effects." Maxie stopped and turned to look at him in the eyes. "Two or three times a year I go into heat, just like a cat would. Great, isn't it?" 

"Oh." 

"Yeah, 'oh' alright." Maxie went to the door and opened it, but before she went out she turned back. "Manticore was full of neat gifts, and not all of them can be 'fixed'. This is one I'll have to live with the rest of my life." 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Liz opened the door to the lab and walked inside. She'd barely taken one step when the smell assaulted her and she smiled. 

"Why do I feel there's a story there?" Alec asked, walking by her. 

Liz looked at him, surprised. For a moment she'd forgotten she wasn't alone. "Not a story," she said, "A dream." 

"Right, right, you want to be a scientist when you grow up," he teased her. 

"Hey!" Liz exclaimed, then rolled her eyes. "Sir, could you help me find a working table where I can play?" she asked with a parody of a little child's voice and face. 

Alec leaned into her and whispered in her ear, "Only if we can play doctors." 

Liz pushed him away, laughing to cover up her reaction to his words and his closeness. She looked over the room searching for a workable space to start. 

Alec chuckled, following her movements with his eyes. It wasn't only that he loved to egg her on, he knew there was something else there but he preferred to ignore it. He saw her put the folder down and open it, reading the document again, gathering the tools she thought she'd need. Her attention focused on the paper in her hands, her lower lip trapped between her teeth, a persistent lock of hair falling over her eyes, forcing her to keep putting it behind her ear. Alec felt a twitch in his hand, he wanted to brush that lock away for her. 

He shook his head and walked to the materials cabinet. "So, what do you need?" he asked over his shoulder. 

Liz read off a list of names and Alec checked the inventory hanging from the side of the cabinet to see if they were all there. Once he found them all Alec turned to the locked refrigerator and 'opened' it. He took a tray and pulled the bottles, vials and other containers corresponding with the coded in the inventory and brought them to Liz. 

"Here you go," he said setting the tray on the work counter. "What now?" 

Liz looked around herself and sighed. "This is going to take a while, you know, it's not like making a shake. Some substances have to be prepared before we can mix them and others-" 

"So we can be here all night," Alec cut her off, "That what you're saying?" 

"Pretty much," Liz said shrugging. 

"It's not like I have anything better to do, Liz," he said smiling. "Look at it this way, we can get to know each other better." 

Half an hour later Liz had three different mixes in the making. Alec was sitting on the counter behind her, watching her work, and she was telling him about her Grandma Claudia. 

"She would've loved to meet you guys," she said. "The others too. She was an amazing woman." Liz turned on the Bunsen burner and put one of the mixes to boil. "I miss her." 

"She sounds like a kick-ass lady," Alec agreed. "Like an older version of you, maybe?" 

Liz turned to smile at him. "I wish," she admitted. 

Alec smiled at her, seeing the emotion in her eyes he felt he'd love to meet that woman too, just because she'd been so important to Liz. 

Liz went back to her work. "You know, I've been doing all the talking here. Why don't you tell me something?" 

"Oh come on, we already did this, remember? I told you what I liked-" 

"Yeah, yeah, money, alcohol and women. I remember," she cut him off. With a look at all the working progress on the counter to check everything was alright she turned to Alec. "That's just about every guy in the world's description," she scoffed. 

"Not the gays," he pointed out. 

"Especially transgenic guys, apparently," Liz ignored him. "Tell me something about 'you'," she hit his chest with her index finger. "Something that makes you 'you'." 

Alec looked down, trying to think of some excuse to get out of this conversation. He liked it better when they were talking about Liz, her life, her friends, her family. 

"You said 'get to know each other'," Liz reminded him. 

"You're right," Alec agreed resigned. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It's not like she was asking him to tell her every little detail of his life. "I had a cat once," he said, the memory bringing a smile to his face. 

"You did?" Liz asked surprised. That wasn't something she'd expected. 

"Yeah, well, it wasn't 'mine' in a conventional sense of the word. He lived in the woods inside Manticore, I have no idea how he got in but he did. It was little more than a kitten when I found him beside a fallen brunch and he was hurt, he must've fallen from the tree and he broke his leg. I loved playing with that cat." 

"What was his name?" Liz asked. 

"Pig," Alec said. "He was a little white ball of fur, playful and just cute, you know. I had to go away for a while and when I went back there was no trace of him. I don't know what happened to him." 

"I've never had a pet," Liz said. 

"Are you sure about that?" Alec asked, smirking. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"I hear things, something about a puppy dog who used to follow you around everywhere," Alec teased her. 

Liz's eyes opened in shock, her jaw dropped. "A-Alec!" she sputtered, her brain faltering for a moment. But Alec was looking at her with that charming smile and twinkling eyes and she just couldn't help herself. She laughed. "You are so bad," she scolded him. She couldn't believe she was laughing at this, but she just couldn't be mad at him. 

"Sorry," Alec apologized, not sounding sorry at all. 

"I'm sure you are," she said, shaking her head. "No, I've never had a pet," Liz repeated vehemently. 

"Alright, alright," Alec raised his hands in surrender. "Seriously though, I'd trade in my pat for your passion everyday of the week." 

"My... my passion?" Liz squeaked. 

Alec shook his head, "Get your mind out of the gutter, Miss Parker, I was talking about your passion for science," he chided her. 

Liz blushed. How did he do that? Where was level headed, self-confident Liz Parker whenever Alec was around? Damn him. 

"Right," Liz nodded, relieved they were back to safe territory. "Yeah, I do love it. I have ever since I was little. I guess Grandma Claudia had something to do with that, she always encouraged me to ask questions and look for the answers," she explained. 

One of the brewing mixes beeped to signal it was done and Liz went back to work. "You know, it's true that I always wanted to be a scientist," she said, looking over her shoulder at him, "But ever since I found out about the aliens I've wanted it even more. There's this inquisitive side of my mind that wonders about how they were made, how they mixed alien DNA with ours, and how their powers work and-" 

"I guess we've picked your interest then too," Alec interrupted her. 

Liz glanced back at him. "Yeah," she said almost embarrassed. 

"It's okay, Liz. It's normal that you want to figure out how we're made, both aliens and transgenics. You don't have to be ashamed of wanting to know," Alec told her sincerely. "Besides, an intelligent woman can be very sexy," he added with a wink. 

Liz rolled her eyes. She was convinced he just couldn't help himself. Then a thought occurred to her and she sobered up. "But I don't want to be trapped by the knowledge." 

Alec frowned, "What do you mean?" 

Liz sighed. She turned to look at him. "Don't think that I regret getting involved with them, Alec, I don't. And not only because I'd be dead if I hadn't. Some times I feel bitter about the things I've lost or missed out on, or I wish I had made other turns along the way. But I'm not sorry I know this huge secret." She went back to work. "It's just that I've always wanted to do so much more... and I don't want the fact that I know about them... or you, to keep me here. I've always wanted to see the world; go places, do things." 

She poured the new mix she'd gotten into a vial and turned to Alec. 

"Can you put this in the freezer at -350ºC?" 

"Sure." Alec got it and went to do as told. 

Liz gazed after him, admiring the graceful movements of his body. "Have you travelled a lot?" she asked suddenly, shaking her head. 

Alec looked back at her startled. "Me?" he asked surprised. Liz nodded and he turned his back on her again. "Yeah," he said a bit darkly. "But you wouldn't have liked it." He closed the freezer again and went back to sit again on the counter. 

"Why not?" Liz asked softly, hearing the change in his voice. 

"I'm a soldier, Liz. Why do you think?" 

"Oh," Liz didn't know what to say. She knew they were soldiers, but somehow, the thought that they'd actually fought wars hadn't sunk. "Was it bad?" She wanted to kick herself the moment the words felt her lips. What a dumb question. 

"War always is," Alec said simply and she nodded. 

"Wouldn't you like to see the good side of the world?" she asked, feeling a bit childish and naive. 

Alec smiled at her, "Yeah, that would be nice." 

Liz concentrated on the next part of the formula for a while then, and Alec took the opportunity to sweep the perimeter and make sure everything was still okay. 

When he finished, Alec went back to the lab and leaned into the counter next to Liz, facing her, watching her work. 

"So what else would you like to do?" he asked after a while. 

Liz looked at him startled. Not that she'd forgotten he was there, she'd been feeling his eyes on her all the time. It was a wonder she still managed to form a coherent thought, let alone conduct an experiment. She pushed aside the manual she'd found under the work table and she'd been using as reference. Apparently, there were students working in this lab, maybe on practice. Which served her good because some of the steps of the process had been a bit too much for her. 

Liz looked at Alec curiously, not sure what he was talking about. Hey, she had to focus on what she was doing 'and' on Alec; there wasn't much brain left for anything else. 

"Besides travelling," he reminded her. 

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe learn some languages, or, do some digging like Grandma used to... Put together a book of photos... Maybe write... Or paint! I'd love to paint..." she exclaimed with a dreamy smile. 

"Add music to that and you'll be the embodiment of the Renaissance spirit," Alec teased her. 

"Oh, yes, music!" Liz agreed, ignoring the teasing. "I'd love to play an instrument, something like... I don't know, like the cello or the harp." 

"Exotic much," Alec chuckled. "I can't help you there, I'm but a lowly pianist," he sighed dramatically. 

"You play?" 

"Yep. And I'm really good too," Alec bragged and she rolled her eyes. It was a wonder they didn't fall off with all the rolling she did around him. 

"I've always found fascinating the eastern cultures. Something like Tai Chi, or yoga... or some martial arts?" she said, checking her watch. It was almost four in the morning; they'd been in here forever. The formula was almost ready, just a few more minutes. She looked at Alec who hadn't said a word to her latest comment. 

Alec was watching Liz. Her words had brought an image to his mind he was having trouble shaking off: Liz in skin tight clothes, hair flying wild behind her, executing a sweeping kick that landed him on his back. 

"Martial arts, huh? I could help you with that. Anything in particular? Not that it matters. I know them all," he added chuckling. "You know, you really have to let me help with it, I'd love to see you try some of those moves," he teased her. 

Liz laughed embarrassed, trying to imagine herself, doing some of the more advanced stuff, already changing her mind. "Maybe not," she mumbled. 

"Come on, Liz, I was joking. I think it's a great idea," Alec encouraged her. 

There was a ding behind her and they both turned to look at the liquid resulting from all their work... or her work. 

"That's it? It's done?" Alec asked, seeing that Liz made no move to touch it. 

"Yes. That's the final formula in Pierce's folder," Liz said, re-reading the paper they'd found in Eagle Rock. "Now all we have to do is figure out what it is." 

"We could try it on me," Alec offered. Liz looked at him alarmed and he smiled, touched by her concern. "I'm immune to most poisons and chemicals, Liz," he reminded her. 

"B-but... we have no idea what it is!" she exclaimed. 

"Well, is there anything lethal in there?" 

"How should I know?!" she panicked. "Everything can be lethal depending on the dose!" Alec looked at her sternly, silently telling her to calm down. Liz took a deep breath and re-read the document for the umpteenth time. "I don't think so, not on the original ingredients, anyway. But any of the combinations could be, or... Here," she said pointing at one of the names on the list, "This is a muscle relaxant, and this..." Liz checked the manual again. "This is a neuro depressant; this is used in sedatives and..." she trailed off, a thought occurring to her. 

"What?" Alec asked confused. 

"I just remembered, when Max was captured, Pierce dosed him up with some kind of serum that made his powers ineffective. This could be it." 

"Makes sense. Where'd Pierce get it and how come Evans didn't mention it?" 

"The FBI got Nasedo and another alien for years, remember? And Max, I'm not sure, he's tried so hard to suppress the memories..." 

"Right," Alec agreed. The mind was very capricious. "So, I guess we should test it," he said shrugging. 

"Yes, you're right." Liz took a syringe and filled it with the dose stated in the folder. Then put the needle in her arm and- 

"What the hell are you doing?" Alec asked, holding the syringe under her nose. 

Liz looked at her hand, still poised over her arm, and the syringe that wasn't there anymore. She hadn't seen him move. 

"Testing it?" she said. "You just said yourself-" 

"On me, Liz. I meant on me." 

"But you don't have powers," Liz said confused. 

"I know that, but we'll see it is indeed harmless except for the power thing. If it doesn't affect me at all, then we can try it on you." 

"But you said these things don't affect you," she argued. 

"They don't, but I feel them try to, and I feel my body overpowering them. I get hotter and maybe a little dizzy for a bit..." 

"But-" 

"No buts." Alec injected the liquid in his arm. 

Liz shook her head. Typical. Oh well, at least he was letting her try it after him. Michael and Max would never have let her do that. Baby steps, Liz. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

"I don't like it," Michael said, taking the words out of his brother's mouth. Isabel rolled her eyes. 

They had all gathered in the living room to discuss what CeCe and Alex had discovered, as soon as Alec and Liz had gotten back. 

CeCe had explained about Pierce's sister and they'd all decided it was a good choice. No problem till then. Now, the moment Isabel said she'd do it that had changed. 

Max, Michael and Alex had strongly voiced their disagreement, although Alex had backed down almost immediately, which Isabel appreciated. But Max and Michael insisted it should be one of the X5 girls who did it. They didn't want Isabel to be in the first line of danger. 

"It should be me," Isabel repeated exasperated. "One of us should be there, you know, in case anything happens. I mean, they might be trained for this stuff and be really good at it, but they still can't change things with a wave of their hands." 

"Well, then one of us will go with them," Max insisted with a glare at his sister. 

"I don't think so. I'm better actress than you two," Isabel said. "Besides, I'm good at manipulating people. If the clerk's a woman I'll just turn in the waterworks and if it's a guy," she smirked, "Then I have this," she touched her hair, "And these," she pointed at her chest. "It worked with the sheriff-" 

"Eww! Don't say that!" Kyle exclaimed covering his ears. 

"And it'll work now on whoever stands in my way," she finished, ignoring Kyle's interruption and Biggs and Alec's amused faces. 

"Hm, hm," Alex cleared his throat. 

Isabel turned to him, "It's for a good cause, sweetie. Don't worry, everyone knows they're taken," she winked at him. 

"Izzy!" Max and Michael exclaimed, "I don't need to know that," Max complained with a disgusted face. 

"Besides," Isabel went on. "Biggs will be there with me so, unless the clerk's an alien, I think I'm covered, right?" she asked the dark haired X5 who nodded hastily. "And if it's an alien then I'll save his ass," she smirked. "And you'll be there anyway!" 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Alex sat alone in the couch, looking out the window. 

_Jesus, Alex, calm down! This isn't even the most dangerous thing she's done! Basically there's no danger at all._

He kept wringing his hands, messing his hair, straightening his clothes... 

_We have the bank's system in our computer; we have Pierce's account, all the data in his file that Iz is going to need._

CeCe and Liz watched him from the kitchen, understanding his concern and giving him as much privacy as they could. 

_All she has to do is say she's his sister, show the stupid key and give his social security number. Nothing is going to happen. It'll be over in like 15 minutes._

Suddenly the image of a security guard stopping her to ask her a few questions assaulted him and his heart froze for a second before his rationality came knocking again. 

_For God's sake it's a bank not Wolfram and Hart, they don't have mind readers as security!_ But then his mind sent him a curve one and the image of Isabel blowing up when she opened the box replaced the other. _It'll just be some papers,_ he scolded himself, _maybe something the Special Unit stole from Nasedo, not a nuclear bomb!_

CeCe shook her head in the kitchen and muttered to Liz, "He's gonna give himself a heart attack." 

Alex changed tactics and tried to sooth himself. _She's smart, she's beautiful and I love her... geez, you're talking as if you've never gonna see her again. And I'm not even talking, I'm just rambling on in my head like a lunatic!_

But it was working, the more he thought it all out the more he believed it. 

_Biggs is with her. Alec, Michael and Maria are in there too, pretending to be clients or whatever, she's covered. And Maxie is right outside in her bike, and Max and Kyle are in the SUV... they can all get the hell out in a second. Everything's okay._

He took deep breaths and tried to relax, and it almost worked but... 

_God, I'm gonna explode!_ He stood from the couch and started pacing, trying to work out his anxiety. _I love her, and she knows I'm always with her even if I can't be with her right now... Okay, Alex, remember the 'calm down' five minutes ago? Now would be a good time to start._

He sighed, glancing to the kitchen to see if the girls were paying him any attention. 

_I wish I could be there and see for myself that she's okay, I wish I could put my hand on her back and calm both our nerves, that I could feel her next to me and then everything would be good with the world-_

**I'm so good! Two more steps and that box is mine**. 

Alex's head snapped up and he looked around wildly. What the-? 

"Izzy?" he said tentatively, as if he was expecting her to appear from thin air. 

No answer. 

**Come on, come on, stop yapping already and get the hell out so I can get that box. **

Alex heard the voice again, but he noticed none of the girls seemed to have heard it. He closed his eyes and thought **Izzy?**

He felt Isabel's shock and then, **Alex? What-? **

tbc 

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Please review!


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: I used some dialogue from Dark Angel, it's not mine. Thanks to Itay for his beta services, and thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and took the time to ask me about this story. Enjoy the new chapter.

**Chapter 7**

Alec grimaced, his eyes fixed on the incredibly freaked out Alex. The poor guy kept pacing around, which made everyone else keep moving out of his way in the crowded living room.

They'd had no problem at all at the bank, but when the time came instead of leaving in separate groups the same way they'd come in, the moment Iz had gotten the box she'd made the pre-arranged signal for retreat and all of them had basically run out of the place.

Once outside, Biggs had asked Isabel what had happened since he hadn't seen anything suspicious going down and he'd been by her side the whole time.

Isabel had looked at them as if she didn't know exactly where she was and then she'd shaken her head and squealed, "I hear Alex in my head!"

None had known what to say aside from 'What?', so they'd gone back to the apartment as fast as they could.

When they'd gotten here they'd found Alex sitting in the couch, clutching his head, and CeCe and Liz kneeling before him, trying to get him to tell them what was wrong.

Hearing the door of the apartment open, Alex had sprung to his feet, pointed a finger towards Isabel and said: "Izzy, I love you, don't get this the wrong way, but get the hell out of my head!" Then everyone had started talking at once which, of course, hadn't taken them anywhere.

Liz had demanded in a loud voice that everyone calmed down and now they were all just waiting.

Liz had been watching Alex. She understood what he was feeling, and he probably hadn't been ready for his powers to develop so fast. After all, it had been more than a year before she changed, and Kyle had gotten to doses, which probably was the reason his powers had appeared sooner. But then, none of them had been actually dead, and their injuries had never been in the head the way Alex's were. That could explain why Alex had experienced the fastest change. She shook her head. There would be time for analyzing the scientific reasons later. Now she had to focus on Alex.

"Alex," she said softly, trying to sooth him with her voice.

Alex stopped pacing and turned on her. "How do you stand it?" he asked bewildered.

Liz saw the three aliens flinch and she felt bad for them. Kyle must have seen it.

"It's not so bad, man," he said.

But Alex didn't look away from Liz. "Not that," he said, then Kyle's words registered in his mind and he glanced at the aliens. "I didn't mean it like that," he explained hastily, grimacing almost in pain. "I wasn't talking about the change _per se_, guys. I knew it would happen, I don't care about that." He went back to looking at Liz. "It's different with Kyle," he said meaningfully and he saw the light go on in Liz's eyes. "How do you stand it?" he repeated.

Liz sighed. "It was hard at first. That's the reason you barely saw me right before we left on this trip. I spent almost all the time locked in my room..." Liz lowered her gaze, thinking back to those days. Everything had felt so overwhelming... she'd felt like she was about to explode with all the emotions flooding her as soon as she went downstairs to the Crashdown. So she'd stayed in her room, mostly alone, but sometimes Maria kept her company. It had taken a bit but she'd learned to live with it, and Isabel had already told her they'd work on it together. She looked up at Alex's pained expression. "It'll get better, Alex. I promise," she vowed.

Alex sighed. He trusted Liz, if she said it wouldn't always feel like this, like he was a receptor for all the thoughts in a mile radius, he believed her. It had been bad enough when he could hear Izzy's but that had been mainly the shock of it happening. But then CeCe and Liz had come closer to him and he'd started hearing theirs too. And when the rest of the group had entered the apartment, Alex had feared he'd pass out.

"We should get out for a while, guys," Liz said to the group. "Give him some space."

Alex's grateful look was incentive for everyone and they got up immediately and left the apartment. Only Isabel stayed.

Once they were out the door they separated into groups. Max, Michael, Maria and Maxie went to get some take out for lunch. And the other five went into the RV that was parked in front of the apartment.

"Suddenly I feel so very lucky," Kyle commented, sitting down at the small table.

"Yeah, I bet," Liz grumbled. She still hadn't mastered her own power and sometimes she still felt the need to be on her own for a while to figure out which feelings were actually hers.

"Hearing people's thoughts sucks," Alec said suddenly, startling everyone.

"You talk like you've experienced it," Kyle said surprised.

"You bet your ass I did. The worst mission of my life," Alec said, a tinge of guilt assaulting him momentarily. He shook his head. "The Psy-Ops people gave me some drug that enhanced my 'empathic vein'," he spat.

"You're empathic?!" Liz jumped in.

"No, no, no. Nothing like you, Liz, believe me," Alec assured her. "It's more like a sixth sense, you know, I don't know what people are feeling. What I do know is what they want to hear... Makes it a lot easier to ingratiate yourself with a target," Alec explained over the lump in his throat.

"When was this?" Biggs asked, pulling CeCe on his lap since there weren't enough sits for everyone.

"'17, I think," Alec said. Things like dates of past missions weren't so clear after '18.

Biggs noticed. "So why do you say it sucks?" he asked, taking Alec's mind off of the bad memories.

Alec made a face. "I was supposed to infiltrate an underground gang that was giving problems to one of Manticore's financial supporters. It was an in-and-out mission. I had to take out the leader. But they didn't know who that was so they gave me that stupid drug so that I could get it from them," Alec warmed up to his story-telling. He was a natural and people loved it. They were all hanging on his every word.

"The problem, their base was under a disco that served them as cover. So I get in, dressed to kill, looking as devastatingly gorgeous as only I can," he added with a smug grin, making everyone laugh or roll their eyes, or both. "Because you gotta admit, psycho bastards as they were, they had the money to buy the good stuff."

"Oh yeah! I totally miss the designer dresses," CeCe said sarcastically.

"Anyway, I go in, focused on my mission like a good little soldier, one who didn't know what the injection they'd given him was for, mind you... And suddenly I can hear all this girls talking about how good I'm looking, my gorgeous face, the snug jeans, the kissable lips... and I'm thinking it's my hearing, you know, but then the things I hear start sounding like nothing you'd say aloud... I mean, really X-rated things," Alec emphasized with a horrified face. "People are nasty when they're horny," he said with a shudder.

Biggs and Kyle were laughing by then, and CeCe was looking at Alec speculatively. But Liz was shaking her head.

"You are the weirdest person I've ever met," she said suddenly.

Alec looked at her, appalled. "You have dated a half-alien, half-human hybrid and fought aliens and bastards from the FBI and _I_ am the weirdest?!" he asked, feigning hurt. "I resent that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex had stopped pacing, he was sitting on the couch again, relieved that everyone had left. He wasn't even hearing Isabel's thoughts anymore, he realised surprised. He looked up at her and found her leaning on the kitchen counter, as far away from him as possible without leaving the room. He remembered something he'd made out in the middle of the explosion right before Liz had shut them all up.

"You heard me too?" Alex asked softly. He had a headache and he didn't think he could deal with anything louder than a whisper.

"Yeah," she murmured, following his lead. "I heard you calling my name."

"Only that? Just once?" he asked wanting to be sure. Her name had been the only thing he'd deliberately 'thought' wanting to be heard.

Isabel nodded, she'd been shocked to hear Alex and her mind had been a whirlwind since then, but she hadn't really heard anything else.

"I heard you all the time," Alex sighed. "It was like a switched turned on in my head and I haven't been able to switch it off since."

"Not even now?" Isabel asked tentatively.

Alex frowned. "I don't really hear anything beyond my pounding headache," he joked bitterly. "Aren't you thinking anything?"

"I'm trying not to, but it's hard," she said looking down. Looking at his pained expression the guilt consumed her and with it came a barrage of thoughts she didn't want him to hear.

Alex chuckled sadly, "Too late, Iz, I can hear that."

Isabel winced, "Sorry."

Alex rose from the couch and walked to the counter, leaning beside her. He saw her flinch away and put his arm around her waist, hugging her to him. "It'll be okay, Izzy. It took me by surprise, that's all. It'll go away, you heard Liz."

"I know," Isabel sighed. "I just wish I could help you, you know, I don't really know what's going on for you; any of you. My powers have always been there. They've grown with me. But yours..." she trailed off.

Now that they'd been alone for a while and the tension and shock had left his body, Alex felt his headache dim slightly and his whole body relax. He took Isabel's hand and led her to the couch where they snuggled together, letting the other's presence comfort them.

"You know I didn't mean anything by what I said earlier, don't you?" Alex murmured into her hair where she rested her head on his chest. Isabel looked up at him, confused. "I mean, when I asked Liz how she stood it, I heard you guys, how you felt guilty and..." He was cut off by her thoughts in his head. Alex put one finger under the chin she was trying to lower again to stop her. "Iz?"

She sighed. "I know you didn't mean to blame us-"

"That's not what you just thought," he chided her softly.

"I know," she nodded. "I know that, I really do. It just doesn't feel that way..."

"Izzy, I'm not mad at you, guys. And I don't blame you for any after effects, and I'm not disgusted by the thought of being part alien-"

"Your not really part alien," Isabel said. "Our powers are human," she reminded him.

"My point exactly," Alex winked at her, smiling goofily. "This doesn't change a thing. Not with the group, not between us... Not about you. I love you, Isabel. All of you, including your thoughts."

Isabel slapped his chest playfully, laughing relieved at how well he was taking all of this now that he'd calmed down some. "So, how's your head? Still hurting?"

"Residual ache, you know, the kind I used to have after the accident."

Isabel nodded and settled back down against him. After a moment of silence a naughty smile appeared on her face. "You know, Alex, I read this article once that said..." Isabel trailed off, saying the rest in her mind.

Alex gasped, shocked, before he hauled her body up against his fusing their mouths together. He kissed her hungrily, devouring her lips, plundering her mouth, causing her to moan into his mouth.

Isabel really, really liked the way Alex kissed her. It always made her feel special, but not worshipped anymore, which was good. She liked that sensation of feeling Alex letting go, wanting her enough to make him forget about everything but that moment between them, forgetting his insecurities and the need to second guess himself... It's not that he turned into an arrogant stud or something, it was just that some time together and a little stability in their relationship had made wonders, to both of them actually.

The thing was he still was and always would be Alex, her Alex, tender but eager and yearning. And when they kissed madly, like there was no tomorrow, he liked to slow down and kiss her like it was their first time. Sweet little light kissed with their mouths almost closed, barely touching... and those melted Isabel like nothing else could, and made her attack him all the more, holding him with all her might. As if words wouldn't be enough to express how she felt about him and the force of their embrace would somehow convey her feelings.

They kept kissing each other on the couch. Isabel twinned her fingers in his head, small moans escaping her throat. She caressed his neck, skimming lightly over his skin while their lips met and nibbled and danced leisurely.

Alex slid his hands over her back, his fingers wandering under her top. He loved the feeling of her silky skin, and how he could make her quiver when he kneaded and caressed her lower back. He traced her lips with his, nuzzling lovingly her nose and stroking her hips and thighs with the tips of his fingers.

He pulled back a little and reclined on the back of the sofa, a contented smile on his lips. He cupped her cheek and smoothed her hair, eyes half-lidded. He took her hand and brushed his lips lightly back and forth over her fingers, just enjoying this time alone.

Isabel felt an incredible rush of feeling overwhelm her at seeing that expression in his face. She closed the gap between them again and captured his lips in a chaste kiss. "I wish you didn't have to ever stop kissing me," she whispered.

Alex laughed softly, his eyes shining mischievously. "Okay, we'll have to work on that," he said, focusing his attention on her bare shoulder.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Committee for the Maintenance of the Civil War's Commemorative Monuments."

The group as a whole blinked, surprised. "Say what again?" Michael asked.

"The Committee for the Maintenance of the Civil War's Commemorative Monuments," Alec repeated calmly. He knew how it sounded, trust the government to grow a sense of humour when you least expect it.

"You've gotta be kidding," Kyle said, "They call themselves that?" he asked astonished.

"Yep," Alec nodded. "And, ridicule name aside, we need to find out everything there is to know about it before we do anything else."

The whole group was gathered in the apartment. Since the aliens had said they were more or less done for now with their quest for answers, and given that they were already in Washington DC, they had decided to put the alien questions aside and focus on the transgenics' goal for now.

They had to research and plan the takedown.

"CeCe, did you download the blueprints of the Gillette facility?" Alec asked the blond who nodded and rose from her seat to go get them.

Maxie was looking at the aliens speculatively. Since the moment she got separated from her siblings, her MO for about anything had been 'see, like, take'. She had made an art from the 'jump headfirst and worry about the consequences later' approach. And it had worked for her. She had never had any trouble extracting herself from a bad situation before.

But this was different. They were planning on going against Manticore. True, right now, when all the transgenics were barely children still and not able to defend the facility, it was basically like any other military base in the country... with real 'monsters' in the basement.

_"They crawl up from the basement through special tunnels. And when you're not looking... BAM! They break through the wall and drag you away. _

"They keep you as prisoner of war and eat you up little by little forever."

Max shook her head slightly to banish the thought of her brother's tales. _'They're not monsters. Alec told you that,'_ she told herself.

So Manticore was creepier and more sadist than most bases but still, not so different to the rest.

CeCe was spreading the sheets on the coffee table, but Max kept her eyes on the three teens, looking for the way they could help in their mission. Max grimaced at the word. She'd fought so hard all her life to bury that part of herself. The soldier.

That was something that set her apart from the other three. They 'were' soldiers. She wasn't.

"If I gave you a picture of a guy who's probably in Wyoming, could you do that dream-thing you do?" Maxie asked Isabel.

Everyone looked at her. Isabel had been watching Alec, Biggs and CeCe go over those plans and was surprised to be addressed so it took her a moment to find her footing.

"Mmm... Sure, it doesn't matter where the person is. In the dream state distance isn't an issue," she said curiously.

Maxie was nodding to herself. She heard Alec chuckle and turned to him. "What?"

"Please don't tell me you carry around a picture of the bastard," he said, half pleading, half joking.

Maxie rolled her eyes. "Yes, because I miss him so much," she said sarcastically. "Please, I just thought it might be useful to take a look into his sick mind and see... I'm not sure what, but you never know," she shrugged.

Alec nodded his agreement. He hadn't thought about it. It might be useful, he shrugged mentally.

"And about the photo, I thought we could use the one on his file. There's got to be a picture of him somewhere we can use," Maxie added, looking back at Isabel for her agreement.

"Right," Isabel nodded. "Any picture serves. I've used magazines before," she said smiling at Kyle who suddenly got up and walked into the kitchen.

"I'm so thirsty," he said over his shoulder, purposely turning his back on the group. He heard Isabel snickering.

"Since you're there, pass me a cold beer, will you, Kyle?" CeCe asked, wiping her brow.

"Sure," came the answer from the fridge where Kyle had stuck his head. He got a beer for her and a soda for himself.

Alec had gone back to discussing with Biggs the better approach to the base.

Isabel leaned close to Alex, who was beside her, and whispered in his ear. "Are you all right? How's the head?"

Alex smiled at her. "I'm okay for now. I think I'll be fine if everyone keeps their cool. Especially me. Stress doesn't go well with emerging powers," he whispered back. It was late at night already, his headache had disappeared sometime in the afternoon and with it his ability to hear other people's thoughts. Obviously he couldn't control it. At least not yet. And he'd just have to learn to deal with the sudden outburst as best he could.

"I'm going in with you," Michael's voice rose over the general chit-chat in the apartment, startling everyone.

Alec didn't raise his head from the blueprints. "We'll talk about that later on," he said in a tone that broke no argument.

Apparently, Michael didn't get it. "Alec-"

"Later on, Michael," Alec said, finally looking at Michael in the eyes.

"I'd be willing to go too," Max venture to diffuse the tension. He saw Alec glance at him and hastily added, "Just so you know," he said, catching Alec's eye. "I guess you'd need to know for the planning?"

Alec nodded and went back to study the blueprints. He pointed to a large building. "This one we'll have to blow up," he said as if talking about the weather. He pointed to a blank space beside it. "Told you, not barracks apart yet. We'll probably still be in the medical building." Alec made a face, trying not to think about how weird it was to be talking about another him, not to mention the possible consequences. They hadn't talked about since that night at Michael's. They couldn't avoid that conversation much longer. _'Not now.'_

"That means we'll need fewer explosives," Biggs said bringing Alec's focus back to the moment. "But we're still going to need some," he told Alec.

"Yeah, and that's not the only thing. The gear we brought with us for the diamonds heist won't be enough. We're gonna need more comm links, and weapons." Alec bit his thumb's nail pensively. "What do you think, steal or buy?" he asked Biggs.

"We'll worry about getting them later, right now we should focus on what we're going to need-" Biggs broke off mid-sentence and frowned. Something was off.

Alec felt a weird awareness invade his mind and the question he was about to ask his friend fled his mind.

From the corner of their eyes they both saw CeCe take a long sip of her beer. The blond was sweating and she pressed the now empty bottle against her nape.

Feeling their eyes on her, CeCe turned to look at both males. One look at them and her face broke into a seductive smile.

Alec raised an inviting eyebrow and the next thing he knew Biggs was pinning him to the wall on his back, his forearm pressed against his throat.

"Back off, Alec," Biggs growled. "She's mine."

CeCe seemed to enjoy the display. She purred, the sound driving Biggs wilder and snapping Alec out of it.

_'Fuck! She had to go into heat now?'_ Alec thought. He lowered his gaze to show his acceptance and the pressure on his throat disappeared. He kept his head down.

CeCe plastered herself to Biggs' back, burying her nose on his neck and inhaling his scent. "Yours, huh?" she whispered in his ear.

Biggs turned on his heels and hugged her possessively to him, latching his mouth to hers and dragging her backwards to the door.

"Maxie, keys," Alec said softly, he didn't want to bring Biggs', or CeCe's, attention back to him.

Maxie grabbed the keys from the table and threw them to the passionately kissing couple. Biggs caught them in the air, not looking up from the shoulder he was kissing, but CeCe glared at Max and snarled at her.

The Roswell gang hadn't moved an inch since the moment Biggs attacked Alec, not knowing what was going on. They watched how Biggs and CeCe all but undressed each other on their way out.

When the door slammed closed, all the eyes went to Alec, still leaning on the wall. He waited a few more seconds before raising his head. He looked at Maxie. "You're not going to spring a surprise on me, are you?" he smirked.

"Was she...?" Maxie trailed off. Not that she needed his confirmation. She recognised the symptoms well enough; she'd just never seen it from outside. Alec raised a knowing eyebrow. "Right. Hm... No, don't worry. I'm good for a couple of months," she muttered, glancing briefly at Max.

Max's eyes widened, the flash he'd gotten from her and her explanation making clear what had just happened. _'WOW!'_

"What the hell was that?!" Michael exclaimed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex was going over the drawings they'd discovered on the cave wall. He had been at it all morning. After CeCe and Biggs's display last night, the group decided to call it a night and start anew the next day.

He'd been trying to recreate the program from Las Cruces. Once he'd remembered what had really happened to him he'd been having memory flashes that had led him to remember enough to recreate the program. Whenever he hit a dead end Alex either asked Alec to take a look or marked it to have CeCe fix it when she came back -- Alec said that would be in two or three days.

Alex introduced the symbols of the first page of the book and pressed 'Enter'. Two beeps and three 'Error' messages later, Alex knocked his head on the table. "Damn! This is gonna take longer than I thought," he whined.

"...So you never saw this guy?"

Alex turned to see Max and Michael enter the room with Alec in tow.

"Nah... Logan might have seen him but I was more like the muscle of the operation, you know, let the old man think he had a place." Alec rolled his eyes. He really couldn't stand Logan. "But I can tell you he was based in LA. The exchange was to be somewhere in the middle of Utah, in an abandoned airport. Langley had a flight LA-NY schedule from May the fourth in his private jet with an unscheduled pit stop in Utah. That way nothing could be traced back to him."

The guys sat around him and Alex decided to give his brain a rest and join them. "How are we going to find him then?"

Alec eyed the laptop Alex had been working on. "Is that thing online?"

Alex looked at the table. "Yeah, sure, why?"

"Google him," Alec said, shrugging. Off the skeptic looks the others gave him, Alec added, "Hey, you never know."

"Right," Michael said sarcastically. "I'm sure one of the entries will say: 'Kal Langley. Yes, the one you aliens are looking for'." He rolled his eyes.

"No, he's right, that could work. Didn't you say he was going to pay a lot of money?" Alex asked Alec who nodded at him. "Well, rich people tend to be noticeable. It's a start anyway." He was already typing the name. He pressed 'Enter' and a moment later the screen was filled with entries.

Four pair of eyes opened wide.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Michael exclaimed.

Alec chuckled, "Well, he would have money, wouldn't he?"

Alex clicked on the first entry: 'Kal Langley, at the Internet Movie Data Base'.

"Movie producer," Max said disbelievingly. "What the hell?"

The page loaded sawing the filmography of Kal Langley. He'd been producing movies for the last fifteen years. Alex opened the photo gallery and they saw a bald guy in a tux, obviously at a movie premiere. They were reading up on his biography when the phone rang. Three hands reached for their cells but Alec cut them, "It's his," he said pointing at Max.

"Hello," Max said into his phone.

_"Hi, Max,"_ Jim's voice came through the line. _"How's everything?"_

"Hey, Jim, we're good. How's Roswell?"

_"Everything's fine. Nothing worth mentioning has happened here. I talked to Kyle but his cell ran out in the middle of our conversation,"_ Jim explained. _"He was telling me about Alex's change of status."_

"Yeah, we had a bit of a surprise. But the thing at the bank went down smoothly. We got the box with no problems."

_"That's good. What was in it?"_

"It was a cooler with some kind of substance in it. I think it might be the blood from one of the shapeshifters they captured after the crash... It can't be mine, Pierce didn't have time to get my blood to Washington DC, but we haven't looked much into it yet. Whatever it is, it can wait."

_"So what's next?"_ Jim asked.

"Er... Biggs and CeCe... had to take care of something," Max said non-commitally and he heard Alec laugh behind him. "So we're staying here a few days longer. Alec and Maxie are wrapping up their thing... Oh, and we're looking into some of Tess' stuff. Remember that letter about the key?"

_"The one from... Nasedo?"_ Jim settled for, probably not a good idea to mention things like alien ship on the phone.

"Yes, that one. You won't believe it but turns out Alec, Biggs and CeCe had it. That's what they came to Las Cruces for," Max said, hoping Jim understood what he meant. "Alec saw the letter and recognised the key. We're checking out the guy who hired them. He only had a name, Kal Langley. There is this movie producer with that name... We're not sure if he's the one but he has a lot of money and that fits the profile."

_"Do you have any picture?"_

"Yes, there are a few shots in the IMDB," Max replied.

_"The what?"_

"Right," Max chuckled. "Not exactly something you'd know. The Internet Movie Data Base. Why do you ask?"

_"I was thinking I'd take a look; see if I've ever seen him around. If he wants that key he probably knows about you. Wouldn't hurt to check."_

"Sure. Here, write down the URL and take a look. It's Kal, spelled with a K, Langley, L-A-N-G-L-E-Y."

_"Got it. Let me see..."_ Jim trailed off and Max could hear him typing in the keyboard.

"You home right now?"

_"Yep, just came from the Crashdown. I saw your parents there... I think they're enjoying the break... Here we go. Kal Langley, photo gallery."_ Jim clicked on the first picture to see a larger version. _"Weird..."_

"What is?" Max asked. "Do you know him?"

The other three looked up when they heard those words.

_"No, no... I don't think I've seen him around but... I can't shake the feeling that I have seen him before... Max, let me call you back in a bit, okay? I'm going to check something."_

"Sure," Max agreed. "Talk to you later."

_"Bye,"_ Jim said distractedly and hung up.

Max looked at the others. "He's gonna look into it and call back."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jim left Kyle's bedroom and went to the garage. He walked to the back and went through the boxes and old bags stored there. Under the last crate covered in dust.

Learning about Max and the others had been a shock to him, understandably. But most of all, it had forced Jim to come to terms with his father. Years of abandonment, shame and resent came crashing down on him.

Jim had gone to see his father in the nursing home. All these years, Jim had resented his father and, at the same time, had dreaded becoming him. Like father, like son; wasn't that how the saying went? For a while there after the shooting that was exactly what he had become. Obsessed, ignorant of his son's needs, a man on a mission with no regards for anything else... His father.

Last summer, after the aliens confided in him and he learned the truth, Jim had gone over his father's all files. Everything official had been taken by the FBI, of course, but Valenti Sr. had trusted no one but himself and kept his own copies of his investigations. The Crash, Hubble and the drifter, Atherton and all the other cases in his career where he felt aliens had been involved. Records, a few evidences -- Jim hadn't known what to do with those; they were stolen after all -- and pictures of the cases filled an old box in his garage. His father's lifework inside a cardboard case.

Jim lifted the heavy box and took it back inside. He put it on the table and sat on the couch. Dust rose when he opened the lid.

Langley's face had sparkled something in Jim's brain. He was sure he'd seen that face somewhere and, given the givens, all his money was on this box.

Jim took out the folder with the pictures and opened it. Photo after photo, he put them on the table. Some he recognised immediately, other belonged to cases he wasn't so familiar with.

There it was.

Jim pulled the corresponding file from the box and reached for the phone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So you think he's a shapeshifter?" Max asked. The phone was sitting on the table in the middle of the living room, on speaker now since the rest of the group had come back minutes before the call.

_"This was almost fifty years ago, Max, and he looks exactly the same."_

"I get that. That points to an alien origin, given all the info from that case, but... I don't know, wouldn't a shapeshifter have changed his appearance? Especially if he's gone killing around?" Michael cut in.

"Michael's right, Jim," Alex added.

_"I don't know why he hasn't changed, but even if that doesn't convince you, what do you say about the way he killed that actress?"_

"Yeah, that's how Nasedo killed," Max agreed. "So, we're going with the assumption that this producer from Hollywood is the second shapeshifter?"

The others nodded their agreement to Jim's answer in the affirmative.

"Okay, thanks, Jim. We'll talk soon."

_"Right. Take care, kids. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary,"_ Jim advised them before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Max clicked the off button and rose from the couch. He walked to the window and leaned his head on the glass. Eyes closed and clenched jaw, anger and frustration pouring out of him, the others watched him and waited. Feeling the tension in the room raise, Alex got to his feet and left the apartment quietly. Isabel hesitated for a moment. She didn't want to leave him alone, but her brother didn't look much better. She looked around the room and both Michael and Liz nodded their heads towards the door; Max had other people right now, Alex needed her. She gave Liz a small smile, it meant a lot to Isabel that Liz supported her relationship with Alex, and left.

The rest waited.

_'Dammit! It's never gonna end! What does this mean? Does he want the key to go back?'_ Max's mind was in turmoil. _'Like I need another headache to add to the pile!'_ Max shook his head; he didn't have time for this. He didn't know what to do. Not only he didn't trust this Langley, he wasn't gonna let him get the other key.

Max turned around and took the phone again. He dialled the Information Assistance for LA and waited.

"Yes, I need the phone number of Langley Productions, please." Max wrote down the number. "Thank you." He hung up and started to dial again.

"Here," Alec interrupted him, handing him his phone. "In case he can trace the call."

Max took it and dialled again.

_"Langley Productions. Good morning, how may I direct your call?"_

"Mr. Langley, please," Max said in a clipped voice.

_"One moment please."_ The line went dead for a second, then, _"Mr. Langley's office. Can I help you?"_ a new voice asked.

"I'd like to talk to Mr. Langley," Max repeated, no pleasantries this time. He had to appear firm here.

_"Mr. Langley is in a meeting, can I take a message?"_

"Tell him..." Max hesitated, looking at Michael. What were the odds this guy didn't know who he was? After all, didn't the dupes know? It didn't look like a secret, apparently there was a sign in the entrance to the atmosphere: 'Welcome to Earth, the king of Antar's human name is Max Evans.' Max shook his head.

He heard Langley's secretary calling him, _"Sir?"_

"Yes, tell him Max Evans wants to talk to him." Max ignored the gasp that came from behind. He didn't know who it came from and, right now, he didn't really care. He held his breath, waiting, then...

_"Hold a second, please."_

Another second and a man came into the line.

_"Kal Langley,"_ he said shortly, he didn't sound too excited about the call, but Max didn't care, he didn't want to chat.

"Stop looking for the key; I've got it," Max enunciated carefully and then hung up.

There was a pregnant silence in the apartment before Kyle asked stupefied, "That's it? You didn't even wait for him to say a word!" he exclaimed. "We're all about looking for answers, he may have had them!"

"We don't care what he has to say, Kyle," Michael said, supporting Max's actions.

"B-but..." Kyle trailed off.

"He's a shapeshifter, like Nasedo. More than probably he's the one who abandoned the other set. Why would we want anything to do with him?" Michael went on.

Kyle looked won over by this argument.

"I won't trust a word he has to say," Max said firmly. "If we ever need him, we know where he is. Hopefully, this short call will clue him in that we don't want him close," Max added, not really believing his own words, but choosing to ignore it.

Silence fell upon the group again, but this time Maria wasn't going to let it go. "Well, if the current crisis is over, Michael, I want you to take me somewhere," she said, breaking the spell, and everyone else sprang into action.

"Right," Kyle said, standing up. "I think I'm going to see if Alex is alright." He put his phone to recharge and then left.

Michael held out his hand to Max for the keys to the SUV, since he'd been the last to drive it, while Maria whispered something into Liz's ear, making her laugh.

"Ready, Maria?" he asked. She nodded and put her hand into his, walking with him out the door. "Where are we going anyway?" he was saying when the door shut behind him.

Liz shook her head smiling, Maria had said not to wait for them for dinner. They'd been talking last night and Maria had confessed that the last two weeks had been too long for her and she hadn't had much chance to spend quality time with Michael, so Liz had told her she should 'make' the time now before things went crazy again, seeing as how they were stuck here until CeCe and Biggs came back.

The sudden nearness of a hot body startled her. "Penny for your thoughts," Alec whispered in her ear.

On the other side of the room, Max watched as Alec leaned close to Liz and suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on him. He looked around as if suddenly realising there were only him and those two left in the room and got to his feet.

"I'm gonna go get some air," he mumbled and left without looking at them.

Right then, Maxie came out of the bathroom and looked around, "Where did everyone go?"

"Out," Alec said simply, inexplicably smirking.

"Er... Kyle went to see if Alex was alright and Maria and Michael went to... take care of something," she managed to say, ignoring Alec knowing chuckle. "And Max just left, I think he was going to take a walk..." Liz trailed off.

Maxie looked towards the window. "I think I'll go too. Haven't had a good ride in two days." She took the keys to her Ninja and stopped for a glass of water before turning back to the door. "I'll pick you up later tonight," she threw over her shoulder.

"What are you guys doing later?" Liz asked.

Alec turned to her smirking. "You know, you ask about my doings too often. I feel like I get all the nuances of a relationship without ever enjoying the fun part," he teased her.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Tell you what, you tell me what she meant and we can make out some later," she drawled sarcastically.

Alec chuckled, shaking his head. "We're going to do some recon in the bad neighbourhoods. We need to find a contact to get the gear we'll need in Gillette," Alec explained.

"Right, I'd forgotten about that. I guess CeCe's spectacular finale made the rest a little hazy."

"I noticed; the guys had forgotten too, I had to repeat most of what we talked about yesterday. One would think you've never seen a chick on the prowl," he said incredulously.

"Well... Not a girl, but we have seen you, so..." Liz got to her feet to escape Alec's lunge for her. She jumped away and raised her arms, surrendering. "Now, now, Alec, don't be like that," she chuckled, a hint of mischief in her voice. "You know you deserved th- Stop!" she squealed, trying to stop Alec's tickling fingers. "Alec!"

He put one arm around her wait and picked her up, throwing her on the couch and kneeling over her, not actually straddling her. "You give?" he asked.

Liz nodded, unable to speak through the peals of laughter escaping her.

Alec relented slightly, letting her catch her breath but not totally stopping. "Say 'Alec's the best'," he ordered.

"Alec's the best," Liz gasped.

"'Alec is smarter than I'," he added smugly and saw the flash of annoyance that went through her eyes. But she complied.

"Alec is smarter than I," Liz said, hoping he'd let her up now.

But Alec wasn't done. "'Alec is incredibly hot and I want him badly'."

This time Alec couldn't identify what went through her mind before she deliberately snorted and then repeated his words. Satisfied, he leaned back and let her move away. "See? I knew that," he shot off-handedly.

Liz got up and got to her bedroom. "Keep telling yourself that, Alec," she said sweetly at him from her door. Liz went into the room and leaned back against the door. Her knees trembling, sighing, she slid onto the floor.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The last three days had been nothing short of chaotic. Everyone had something to do. Max and Michael had experimented with the serum Liz'd made, which of course resulted in more lab time for her to make more given that they were satisfied with the results. When they weren't doing that, Michael sat with Alec and Maxie who had been going over their plans and strategizing. That was, of course, when they weren't out God knows where buying all kinds of technical stuff... and weapons. Liz had never seen a gun up close before. Her knowledge about them could be summed up with 'I got shot once'.

To be honest, the transgenics hadn't really let any of them get too close. Alec had come into the door carrying two heavy bags and had gone straight into the room the four transgenics shared.

Isabel had spent the three days practising with her, Alex and Kyle, one at a time.

And Maria... well Maria had a found quite a bit of reasons to drag Michael on errands.

Liz smiled, Maria was obviously very happy. She had found some inner peace when Michael decided to stay in the planet for her, healing the deep wound her father had inflicted when he left. And of course the fact that they'd gone all the way made for really entertaining late night talks, with Maria babbling all over the place about her and Michael and Isabel reminding her she was talking about her brother every second sentence. Liz was sure Isabel was gonna end up scarred for life... maybe so was Liz.

Alec said last night he expected Biggs and CeCe to be back sometime today.

"Hey, Liz, you there?" Liz heard Alec calling from the living room. She got up and walked out of her room where she'd been writing in her journal the happenings of the last days.

"What's up, Alec?"

Alec turned to her from the fridge with a slice of pizza. "Hi there, beautiful, I found the perfect way to use that serum you made," he said, heating up the pizza. He pulled a gun from his back and let it on the counter with a bang. Liz jumped back startled and looked at Alec with wide eyes. Alec chuckled, "Relax, Liz. It's a dart gun and it's not loaded."

Liz shook her head. "I thought you and Maxie were planning for Wyoming," Liz said. _'Not that I know what you're talking about most of the time,'_ she added silently. She'd been present on some of those planning sessions and they had told the whole group the parts she'd missed, but if you were to look at her journal, the recounting of all their meticulous strategy looked like the plot of a movie. In every action movie you had the same plan of action: 'You go in silently, surveillance is the first thing to take care of, then guards, fast and quietly, take control of the place, do whatever you went there to do, and get out as fast as possible.' _'Did I mention fast and silently?'_ Liz thought. _'Because as far as I got about the plan. Well, that and some big words like 'charges' and 'blowing up'...'_ The rest sounded like a different language to her.

"We were," Alec said, interrupting her musings. "So? What do you take me for? An ordinary? I can multitask." He took the now hot pizza and walked to the couch.

"Right," Liz agreed, still lost in her thoughts. She shook her head and focused on their conversation. "So, what was that about the serum?" she asked.

Alec pointed at the gun he'd left on the counter. "I've been thinking those are the safest approach. We'll carry one each -- and with 'we' I mean us Xs, of course -- loaded with the serum. I need to know what dose you need to knock an alien powerless so I can buy the appropriate dart."

"I still don't get why you need-"

"Yes, yes, I know," Alec cut in, shaking his head sadly, "My mind is always so much faster than anyone else's..."

Liz laughed, "You're so full of yourself." She slapped his arm.

Alec leaned back on the sofa, smiling engagingly at Liz. She shook her head, smiling back. He always made her smile... and blush... and weak in the knees... and so many more things she didn't know where to start. Liz hadn't been able to focus on much more than him for a while now. Every day she fell a little bit more and his continuous flirting wasn't helping her at all.

"Well?" she prompted him.

"Didn't Max or Michael tell you about our next move?" Alec asked and Liz shook her head. "I can understand that, they probably lose all brain functions when they're close to you, you're so stunning... you leave them speechless," Alec said, winking at her.

"Really?" Liz drawled, "Then how come I never manage to stun you into silence? If I'm so beautiful and everything, why aren't you down on your knees worshipping me?" she demanded haughtily, but then her mind caught up with her mouth and Liz backtracked, embarrassed. "But of course you, being so much more than an ordinary, wouldn't be affected by us mere humans, and nor even a beautiful girl gets to you. Not that I think I'm beautiful," she added hastily, in full babbling mode, "It's just you said so. But you didn't mean for you; only normal guys and that's not you..." she trailed off, losing steam, her voice dying out. "Of course I'm not your type," Liz mumbled softly, feeling foolish for even thinking and fantasizing about it the last weeks. She lowered her gaze, staring at her own feet. She didn't want to see the shock or pity in his face. She bit her lip and brushed a lock of hair from her face in a nervous gestures.

But Alec was disagreeing with her already. "Who said you're not?" he asked, raising her head with a finger under her chin and smiling charmingly at her. "You are beautiful. You're petite and fragile looking, I like that in a girl. I wouldn't know what to do with a girl like Isabel," he added confidentially, then he pouted, "And she's prettier than me," he said earning a chuckle from Liz.

She felt the loss of his touch when he took his finger away. His words were making hope bloom in her heart.

"And you're brunette," Alec went on. "I have a soft spot for dark haired beauties."

_Fingers running through a dark mane._ The image went through Alec like lightning, unsettling him.

"You're smart," he added, pushing the unease away. "Believe it or not, pneumatic air-heads aren't all that."

_"She's a good student--excels in history and communications."_ Alec shook his head closing his eyes.

"You're close to your family..."

_"He's great. It's just been the two of us, though, since my mom died."_

_Rachel hugs her father._

"...Loyal..." Alec said slowly, his eyes glazed as if he didn't see Liz at all.

_"Daddy!" Rachel runs to the car._

"...Beautiful..."

_Rachel turns around and smiles at him, holding out her hand._

"...Er..."

_"I love you."_

"Oh, God!" Alec gasped, the words barely a whisper. He rose from the couch and stepped back, shaking his head, his eyes wide.

Liz reached out for him and Alec gave another step back. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

_"Rachel!" _

The car explodes.

"No," Alec whispered in a pained voice. Liz opened her mouth and he repeated louder, "No!" Alec turned on his heels and went for the door of the apartment. "I have to go."

Alec opened the door and came face to face with Biggs and CeCe, her arm raised, about to knock. Alec pushed them apart and left.

"Alec!" CeCe called out.

Biggs looked after his friend. His face had been a mask, but his eyes were shouting for a way out. The couple entered the apartment and looked around. The only person in the living room was Liz and she looked about to cry.

Biggs approached her and she looked at him for an explanation. "What happened, Liz?" he asked softly.

Liz shook her head, "I don't know..." she started, her eyes going back to the door Alec had disappeared through. "We were talking and he just... I don't know..."

"It's alright," Biggs soothed her; he needed her to focus so that he could help him figure out what was wrong with Alec. "What were you talking about?" He saw Liz blush and things started to fall in place.

Liz felt the heat in her cheeks and sighed, not like she could lie now, Biggs would see right through her. "We... I... I mentioned that I wasn't his type and he was telling me that it wasn't true... He said..." she trailed off, she didn't want to repeat the things Alec had said.

"Brunette, beautiful, smart... Am I close?" Biggs offered, seeing how hard it was for Liz to talk about it. She just nodded, not looking at him. Biggs cursed inwardly.

The truth was he'd seen this coming. Sometimes he had wondered how could Alec not see it. Especially since he'd remembered the whole ordeal a few months back.

CeCe sat beside Liz and nodded to Biggs. She'd stay with her and Biggs would go after Alec.

Biggs rose from the couch and squeezed Liz's shoulder. She looked up at him, the question loud in her eyes. "He'll have to tell you himself, Liz" he told her.

Biggs turned to the door and went after his friend.

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It hadn't been that hard to find Alec.

Biggs had looked for the nearest bar and there had been Alec, drinking his feelings away. Typical X behaviour, actually. They didn't deal well with emotions, especially when the emotions were so deep and they hurt so badly.

Biggs wished he could spare Alec this ordeal, but he knew Alec needed to go through this. He'd never really gotten over Rachel and his part on her death. Alec had just buried his guilt and tried to move on with his life, using his charm and looks to get one girl after another, never admitting that wasn't what he wanted.

When Biggs had seen the spark in Liz's eyes he hadn't given it much thought; basically, every girl got dreamy eyes -- or steamy, depending on the girl -- when they saw Alec.

But then Alec's eyes sparked back... and Alec ignored the fact that they had. That's when alarm bells had rung in Biggs' mind. Liz was a natural blend of the two girls who had affected Alec the most. She was young, innocent and vulnerable like Rachel and, at the same time, strong, opinionated and capable like Max. She could be a romantic interest and a good friend for Alec.

And, of course, Alec was terrified because of it.

He didn't want to get that close to anyone again. He couldn't risk that kind of hurt, not for him nor her. Biggs knew this; but he also knew Alec didn't really have a choice in the matter. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the feelings where there and even if he never faced it he would be hurting Liz still.

Biggs approached Alec and sat down on the stool next to him. "Whiskey," he told the barman who'd come to take his order.

"Leave it, Biggs. Just go," Alec said never taking his eyes from his drink.

The barman put a glass in front of Biggs and Alec nodded to his now empty one. The barman refilled it.

Biggs ignored Alec's order, staying where he was, but he didn't say a word. They just drank in silence. And they finished that round the barman served them a new one without having to be asked.

Half an hour later, Alec was still drinking, his high metabolism burning the alcohol before it had the chance to inebriate him. But he felt numb, which was the effect he was going for. And Alec knew if he stopped drinking the numbness would go away in a matter of minutes. So he kept drinking.

Biggs had stopped a while ago. He didn't need to feel numb after all.

Neither had said a word since Alec told Biggs to leave. Biggs knew he couldn't be the one to start or else Alec would clam up and there would be no way to get him to talk. Biggs was glad that patience was one of the basic skills a soldier had to master. He could outwait Alec. It's not like he had anything better to do right-

"I'm not gonna do this, so drop it," Alec said suddenly and Biggs smiled inwardly.

"Do what?" he asked pleasantly.

Alec scowled at him. "Don't treat me like a kid, I'm not stupid, Biggs," he growled.

Biggs put on an innocent face. "I'm just playing your game, man."

Alec shook his head and went back to drinking. One sip, two sips... He sighed, let the glass on the counter and ran his fingers through his hair, rubbing his nape in a tired gesture. "I'm not gonna hurt Liz," he said wearily. Biggs nodded, seemingly agreeing with him, and so he took the glass back up. He was about to take another drink when Biggs spoke.

"Then you're gonna hurt Liz," he said.

Alec's hand froze in mid air and he looked at Biggs, his eyes confused.

"By having nothing to do with her," Biggs explained.

Alec snorted and brought the Scotch to his lips. The conversation was over as far as he was concerned. Biggs was just wasting his time.

Apparently, Biggs disagreed.

"She's not Rachel, Alec."

Alec spun on his stool towards Biggs, her name jolting him into action, but the look on his friend's face stopped him.

"I know what this is about. She's like the elephant in the room and it needs to be said," Biggs whispered because the barman had turned to watched them when Alec snapped, but seeing that it didn't look like they were going to get into a fight, the barman went back to his solitaire and Biggs continued. "And whatever you decide about this, there's one thing you need to accept: Liz is not Rachel."

Alec avoided Biggs's eyes and ignored him. Biggs sighed. This was going to be a long talk. Time to change tactics.

"Okay," he started, watching Alec play with his glass but knowing he was listening. "Let's say you're not gonna do this. You go back to the apartment and don't talk to Liz. You stop acting the way you have until now, you don't spend time with her alone, you don't even look at her anymore. You galvanize yourself and get over it," Biggs said nonchalantly. "By the way, this is where the 'hurting her anyway' part comes," he commented leaning closer and he saw Alec wince. Good. "So then, what?" he paused, letting his words sink. "What happens several months down the line, or a year, when you develop feelings for someone else? You'll do this over and over till you die? Perfect plan, Alec. Manticore would be so happy to hear that: the emotionless soldier they wanted all along."

Alec kept silent. He didn't want to hear that, it was easier to ignore this feeling now without the threat of having to do it again... more than once. It was easy to tell himself he'd be more careful next time, that there wouldn't be a next time.

But then, he'd done that the last time too, and look how well that worked.

"Having feelings for other people, especially girls, is something that's gonna happen; you can't help it, Alec, unless you're a robot or a plant," Biggs went on. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it's always gonna be there... And I'm not gonna join you in some bar and slap your head around every time. I have better things to do with my time."

That got a small reluctant chuckle out of Alec.

"Anyway, we're getting off track here. My point was that Liz is not Rachel. You know that, I know that... and I hope she gets to know that too," he added under his breath. "Besides," Biggs smirked, feeling the need to lighten the mood, "She's gonna learn martial arts, right? She's gonna be a toughie."

Alec chuckled in spite of himself. "Come on, man."

"What?" Biggs said shrugging. "I'm serious. She's not Rachel. She can take care of herself, and she knows who you are, what she's getting into."

"No-one really knows that unless they're Manticore too, Biggs."

"But she's the closest you can get," Biggs argued.

"Maybe so," Alec conceded.

Biggs had to force his face to remain impassive. Had he really made Alec change his mind? Well, not entirely. But he'd made him think. That was huge; all he could ask for, really. The decision had to come from Alec. This was too important.

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The transgenics were gathered in their room. It was late at night and they still had to have 'the' talk.

"I know we haven't really talked about this since that night, but time's running out and we can't put it off any longer," Alec started, all signs of his liquid afternoon and evening gone. "I meant what I said then. I'm willing to risk the chance that we'll disappear when we find ourselves. And I'll understand if any of you don't want to risk it." Alec looked at each one in the eyes, he wanted to show them he was sincere.

Biggs and CeCe had just started something and it wasn't fair to them to have to jeopardise it before they had a chance to explore it. And Max deserved the chance to choose for herself too.

"We said we'd do it and we will," Biggs said, grabbing CeCe's hand and speaking for both. "We're with you on this one, Alec. We all lost people to their sick games, and we have friends we want to have a chance at a better life. It's not fair to leave it all to you."

"Besides, we'll have to be there, inside. We can't leave you with only them for back-up," CeCe said.

Alec wasn't surprised by their choice. He looked at Max and she nodded at him.

"Okay, then. We all go in, whatever happens," Alec confirmed. "But the real problem isn't that we disappear. What happens if we don't?"

"What do you mean?" Maxie asked.

"I mean, what will we do if we make it through and we don't disappear? Even if we get the chance to go back, we're changing the future, it's impossible to go back to the Seattle we left... or the one you were about to find," he added looking at Max. "Nothing will be the same."

"So, we don't want to go back?" Biggs asked.

"Back to what?" CeCe volleyed back. "We don't know what's gonna happen here after Manticore's gone, how can we go to the future not knowing what will be waiting for us?"

"I'm not going," Max said suddenly.

"Hmm, that's what we're saying, Maxie," Alec pointed out.

"I know, smart ass, I meant that I wouldn't go even if we could go back to 'our' times. I've spent the last ten years running, always looking over my shoulder, drifting from place to place with no purpose other than keeping off the radar and finding my siblings." Max looked at Alec, her eyes bright with some inner light. "I have a purpose now, Alec. I'm going to make sure my siblings are safe. I'll make sure that Ben won't go down that road," she said passionately. "I'm going to stay here and take care of the babies."

A silent pause followed Maxie's declaration.

"Yeah," Alec said finally. "That's the other thing. We can't just dump two hundreds kids on these guys and then take off."

"And the kids will need us growing up. It's not like we can put them up for adoption with a sign hanging from their necks: 'strong and bad-tempered; handle with care'," Biggs added, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if we're all gonna stay here... maybe we could try to stop the Pulse," CeCe ventured. The others looked at her as if she was crazy. "What? They're just terrorists, not a meteorite. We're trained to do things like that, remember? I like this America much better than ours. Are you telling me you don't like having food, hot water, money...?" she demanded.

"No, you're right. It's not that. Of course we like it better here. It's just we were talking about a completely different thing Ce," Alec chuckled.

"Not really," CeCe shrugged. "You were making long time plans. Well, so was I."

"Okay, we can deal with that later. We have eight years to do that. We should tell the others they don't have to worry about us anymore. There's no need to find the way to beam us up," Alec joked.

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Maxie had gone out after they finished their talk. She rarely spent the night in. Usually she just rode around, enjoying the speed and the night, but Alec suspected she made some 'profitable' stops sometimes, her stash of money had grown lately.

Biggs and CeCe had already gone to bed, but Alec was still reeling from the day's events and he decided to have a night out himself.

He picked up his keys and went to the door.

"Going out?" CeCe asked from the bed.

"Yeah, I'll be back later... Or tomorrow," Alec whispered. "Sweet dreams, children... Or something," Alec added with a wink and closed the door. He walked into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks.

Liz was sitting on the couch, alone in the dark. She was looking out the window and seemed lost in thought. Alec knew he could go out without her noticing but he'd barely taken two steps before he changed his mind.

Alec walked up to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. Liz gasped surprised and swirled around to look at him. Before she could say anything, Alec spoke, "Let's go."

Liz debated for a moment whether she should go with him or not but her curiosity, as well as her need to talk to him, won out. She rose from the couch and followed him.

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Alec had taken her to a park... After a long ride, longer than necessary to get there, since they were quite close to the apartment now. Still, the ride had relaxed her and Liz believed it might have done the same to him.

But they had been in the park a long time now and Alec still hadn't said a word. Liz looked around. The sky was clouded, there were no stars and there was a new moon. It was so dark she could barely see what was two feet in front of her. Alec had found the only lamp that worked but the weak lightbulb wasn't enough to penetrate the utter darkness that surrounded their small bubble. The faint breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees and the noise made Liz shiver even though it was a warm night. If Alec hadn't been with her she'd be terrified right about now. But he was, and she felt as safe as in her own balcony back home.

They had been quiet for so long that Liz couldn't take it anymore.

"Alec, we've been sitting here in silence for half an hour; and I've been trying to keep my antenna shut but it's really hard, so you either start talking or I say 'open season on the unsuspecting transgenic' is on," Liz threatened slash teased.

Alec chuckled, he'd been worried she might have given into the urge already, but since she was still sitting there with him... He'd been struggling with himself, with his decision, and then trying to force himself to talk only to change his mind again in the last second.

"Right," he started, nodding to himself. He'd taken her here after all. But he still didn't know how to say what he wanted. He cleared his throat, buying time. Finally, he settled for, "What do you want from me?"

Liz opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"Look," Alec went on, "We've known each other for... what, a month?"

Liz nodded carefully, still feeling lost.

"That's a long time for me, Liz. I know you. Every little detail, everything you say or do, no matter how insignificant, tells me something about you. I'm trained to pick up on those details. I don't even do it consciously. It's like breathing to me," Alec explained.

Liz lowered her gaze, she didn't feel up to meet his eyes.

"What I mean is that you're an amazing girl who's had her heart badly broken; and I get the impression that you want to go back home and have a nice boyfriend to pick you up and take you to the movies... Or take a walk through the park... and then take you home and have a good night kiss and I don't do that, Liz. I'm not that boy for you and-"

"You're wrong," Liz interrupted him with a small smile. "That's not what I want. I, er, I know you're not a boy from school to date. And that's okay because I don't want to 'date' someone. What I want is to feel alive," she said with passion, meeting his eyes now. "I want what you make me feel. I want exactly what you've given me until now. Someone to talk to, to laugh with... I want you to come to me, extend your hand and say 'Let's go', just like that... I want to go breaking and entering with you or sit on a bench and just talk. Anything... Everything," Liz finished softly. She took the hand he had on his leg, squeezing lightly, and smiled at him. "Basically, the same we've been doing until now plus the making out."

Alec laughed. Letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her head to his chest, chuckling into her hair. Liz hugged his waist and closed her eyes. It wasn't the first time he touched her, Alec had always been affectionate with her, and he often invaded her personal space to tease her, but this time, here on the bench in the middle of the dark night, it felt different. It felt so good.

Alec let go of her enough to lean back and raised her head, looking into her smiling face. "So you want to make out with me, huh?" he teased her.

Liz exhaled loudly, exasperated. Now he wanted to tease her. "Do you think I'm beautiful and smart or not?" she demanded in a huff.

Alec raised an eyebrow, amused. "Yes, I do."

"And do you want to kiss me or not?" Liz asked, feeling her cheeks heat up. Urgh! She was never gonna outgrow that.

Alec just chuckled, he loved the way Liz flirted with him and could still blush like the first day.

"Okay, you don't want to," Liz sighed when Alec didn't answer. She started to pull away from him. "I'm sure I can find a guy somewhere who- Ah!" she yelped when Alec tugged on her arm and sat her back down.

"Don't even think about it, Parker," Alec threatened playfully. "I think you should know X5s are really possessive."

Liz smiled coyly, the fact that she had basically on his lap, and he was obviously not complaining, encouraging her. "So, if a guy were to try and pick me up... would you fight for me?" she whispered rather happily.

"I wouldn't need to," Alec said self-confidently, thinking there was no reason to tell her that yes, probably, he'd want to tear the guy's head off. "Because you want no-one else but me and that shows," Alec confided in Liz's ear.

Liz leaned back to look at him, her eyes wide in surprise and confusion. "It shows?"

Alec smirked. "Did you know that when you're turned on you release pheromones that-"

"Yes, I know that. But that's not noticeable on the outside," Liz said, making it sound more like a question.

"It is for me," Alec said with a wink, closing the small space between them and nuzzling her neck, inhaling softly.

Liz's blush intensified, the heat burning her up. "You can smell that?" she asked in a small voice.

"Mmm," Alec mumbled, his nose still buried in her neck. "It smells so good... especially on you... so sweet," Alec murmured, spreading soft little kisses over her skin.

"So I must smell really sweet right now, huh?" she asked, surprising Alec.

He chuckled and pulled away. "Who are you and what have you done with Liz?" he asked.

Liz pointed to her flaming cheeks, "See? Blushing, I'm still me. It's not my fault you enjoy the hell out of teasing me."

Alec smiled sweetly at her. "Yeah, I do." His eyes roamed her face. Her pupils were dilated, her cheeks red, her mouth was slightly open and her breath left her in ragged gasps. She looked beautiful. Alec leaned in slowly, his eyes focused on her mouth.

Liz closed her eyes and held her breath. The moment their lips touched, warmth spread through her whole body.

Alec wound one arm around her waist and the other went to her face, his hand gently holding her cheek, his thumb running over her smooth skin. He caressed her lips tenderly, his lips slowly running over hers, not tentative but exploring. Almost like giving in.

The next thing he knew, Liz's scent invaded his mind, like an explosion of vanilla on his nose that went straight to his brain, arousing a craving he couldn't ever remember feeling. His kiss turned hungry and Liz opened her mouth to let him in, welcoming the storm of feelings that matched her need.

Alec devoured her mouth and Liz had to cling to him, feeling as if she'd burn and melt in his arms if he kept kissing her like that. But at the same time, she was certain she'd die if he stopped. Never in her life had Liz felt this tidal wave of passion, this hunger for Alec's touch, to feel his hands on her, all over her... Her whole body trembled and she felt the need to do something... Have control over something... Anything.

Liz rose slightly from his lap and turned to straddle him, never breaking the kiss. She plastered her body to his, pushing her chest against his, her mouth taking control of the kiss.

Alec surrendered his mouth to Liz's assault, incredibly aroused by the knowledge of what his kiss had caused in her. Unfortunately for him, Liz couldn't hold her breath for as long as he could and he reluctantly had to let her pull back.

Liz took in huge gulps of air to fill her starving lungs. "God!" she gasped, "I feel like there's something pulsing inside of me..." She felt giddy, Alec's kisses were like a drug. "I'm... Am I pulsing, Alec? I feel like you've set something ablaze in me and everybody will notice just by looking at me," she said. "Like my father will know the difference when I call tomorrow and he'll see right through my usual fake cheerfulness into the 'I kiss some dude again' tone." Liz rolled her eyes at herself.

Alec laughed, "You're hilarious tonight," he commented indulgently.

Liz hit his chest, "Well I did kiss some dude, didn't I?"

Alec's eyes flashed with mischievousness, chuckling, "I'll give you 'some dude'," he muttered into her mouth, kissing her soundly and smirking when he saw the dreamy smile she had when he pulled back.

Liz opened her eyes and saw the amused smile on Alec's face. "I like to make you laugh," she whispered. "I like your smile."

The tenderness in her voice and in her eyes sobered Alec and brought his rational mind to the front. He didn't want to see her suffer. He kissed her softly then barely touching her lips. "And what happens if I disappear, Liz?" Alec asked, his lips still touching hers.

"Then I'll have had you for a week," Liz said with conviction. She had no doubt about it, she would rather spend this short time with him than wonder for the rest of her life. "What happens if you don't?" she asked then, eyes still closed.

"We're staying here," Alec said softly, kissing her yet again.

Liz pulled back, surprised. "You are? All of you?"

"Yeah, we have things to take care of... The least of which is a huge litter of X-kittens."

"You're keeping them all together, then?" Not that it really surprised her.

"Yes, it's for the best. They'll need each other growing up. And us, so it looks like I'm gonna be around for a long time..." Alec sighed, faking disappointment.

"Good," was all Liz said. All she had time for before Alec kissed her again.

It was late, Liz hadn't told anyone she was leaving, and she was sure there were lots of reasons they shouldn't be doing this here and now, but right that instant kissing Alec felt like the only thing to do.

TBC

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Please review.


	9. Chapter 8

I know it's been forever, I'm sorry. This part has been ready for a while but the server didn't let me upload it. I was about ready to give up...

**Chapter 8**

"We should go back," Liz said softly. She hadn't slept at all but she didn't fell tired or sleepy. She felt charged; not jumpy or on edge, just ready to take on the world. It might have something to do with the amazing guy she was leaning on.

Alec kissed her hair, hugging her closer to his chest. "Yes, I guess we should. They should be awake by now."

"Maria will be worried. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving." She looked up at him. "Did you?"

"Yeah, Biggs and Ce, but I was supposedly alone." Alec helped Liz to her feet and then rose himself. She started for the bike but Alec grabbed her hand and spun her around. Liz stumbled and hung onto Alec who was smiling at her. "Hey, you," he whispered.

Liz heard the huskiness in his voice and leaned up, closing the distance between them. She kissed him, taking her time, exploring his lips, drinking him in. It made her heady to know that he could kiss her all night and then want to kiss her some more.

"Good morning," she said when they pulled back.

"We didn't go to sleep, Liz," Alec chuckled.

"So? I'm not gonna miss a perfect opportunity to kiss you because of a technicality," she said shrugging. Liz let go of him and turned towards the bike, so that Alec couldn't see the silly smile she was sure was on her face.

Alec shook his head, smiling; he wasn't going to complain. He followed Liz and got on the bike, handing Liz her helmet, but before she could put it on, Alec thought of something.

"Will this be a problem for anyone, Liz?"

Liz froze, knowing exactly who he meant; she hadn't thought beyond tonight; she hadn't wanted to. But she couldn't avoid it any longer. She and Max had stuck to the friendship rule, but she had seen the way Max avoided being alone with her and Alec, and whenever they had divided into groups Max always made sure he didn't coincide with Alec nor her. And Liz didn't want to hurt him but she couldn't bear the thought of not being with Alec to spare Max's feelings.

Alec saw the conflicting emotions pass over her face. "Liz, I know Max"

Liz stopped him shaking her head. "It's just... It's not that I want to hide this, because I don't," she added hastily. "But I don't want to flaunt it in his face either. He'll know but he doesn't have to see it, does he?" Liz asked, seeking reassurance.

Alec tugged on her top, bringing her closer to him and then wrapped his arms around her. Liz leaned her chin on his shoulder and felt him running his fingers through her hair. "No, he doesn't," Alec whispered.

Liz burrowed her face on his neck and sighed, Alec was just too perfect. Reluctantly, she pulled back and put the helmet on, getting on the bike behind Alec. He started and, feeling Liz wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, drove off.

Liz rested her head on his back, closed her eyes and replayed the night's events in her mind. It had been a memorable night; one, Liz was sure, she wouldn't ever forget.

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Maria woke up smiling. _'Damn, that was some dream,'_ she thought contentedly. Looking around, she saw Isabel asleep with her finger on that picture Maxie had printed for her.

Isabel had tried a couple of times already but either that guy Lydecker wasn't asleep or he'd been dreaming about nothing useful. Once it had been a childhood memory, something that had totally blown Maxie's mind when Iz told them, apparently Maxie was convinced the man had been born an adult bastard. The other time Lydecker had been asleep he'd been dreaming of blood, lots of blood, and Iz had been startled out of the dreamwalk at the sight of it. She hadn't been able to get back in that night and Iz was fairly certain Lydecker hadn't been able to go back to sleep after that dream. Alec had explained that Lydecker's wife had been murdered and that was probably what he'd been dreaming about, which explained the sleepless night.

Maria was still lost in thought when Isabel woke up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning inelegantly. Maria snickered, it still surprised her sometimes how 'human' the perfect Isabel Evans could be.

"Anything?" she asked the other girl, who shook her head.

"I've been trying all night. I don't think he slept at all last night," Isabel commented, looking around the room. "Hey, where's Liz?"

Both girls looked to the third bed in the room, made and unslept on.

"I don't know," Maria said frowning. "I left her on the couch, thinking about something... Something to do with Alec, I think... You think she slept out there?" she asked, getting out of bed and walking to the door. Moments later she re-entered the room. "She's not there."

"The guys?"

"Both doors are closed so I guess they're still sleeping," Maria said.

"Good," Isabel smiled, rising from the bed. "I'll take the first shower." She took some clothes and passed Maria out the door.

"That's it?" Maria called after her. "That's all you've got to say?"

"If you want the second turn I wouldn't wake the others," Isabel's voice floated from the bathroom before the door clicked shut.

A while later, as Maria came out of the bathroom, the front door opened and Liz and Alec entered the apartment. Maria, hands on hips and a stern look, faced them.

"Well, well, well," she drawled. "Look what the cat dragged in." Then she winked at Alec and added. "Literally."

Alec chuckled but before he could say anything Biggs and CeCe came out of their room. Biggs took one look at the couple standing on the door, Alec smirking and Liz blushing, and he turned to CeCe. "Well, I'd say things went well," he said.

Liz felt herself flush even harder and stepped away from Alec. "And that's my cue to leave," she said and walked to the bedroom. Alec heard her muttering something like 'this is too public for me'. He laughed then, he just loved how shy she could be, even though she could be a wicked temptress when she wanted to.

The last door opened to reveal the rest of their group, except Maxie who still hadn't come back from her night ride. Michael and Alex gave Alec a speculative look, but Max avoided looking at him at all. He went directly to the bathroom at the same time that Liz came out of her bedroom, clothes in hand, also headed there.

Liz halted immediately, barely avoiding a collision and just looked at Max, but he didn't seemed willing to look at her and she took a step back. "You go first, Max," she said softly.

Max just nodded, walked into the bathroom and closed the door after himself, leaning on it.

Liz could hear the charged silence behind her and she took a deep breath. She didn't want this new development between her and Alec to hang over the group, changing the easy dynamics they'd developed in the last weeks. She turned around and walked towards the kitchen. "Breakfast anyone?" she asked over her shoulder.

Her words seemed to break whatever spell and everyone hurried to accept her offer.

"I'll give you a hand," Michael offered.

Liz smiled her thanks at him and stepped behind the kitchen counter, opening the fridge, cupboards and drawers, taking out all they needed to cook breakfast for the whole group.

"So, we're leaving today then?" Alec asked Michael.

"Yeah, we pack up after breakfast and leave as soon as we're ready." Michael poured the eggs on the pan. "I haven't seen Maxie, is she out?"

"She left last night, I'm sure she'll be back soon. We talked about some stuff and I'm sure she had to brood over it for a while," Alec said shrugging.

Biggs shook his head. "What are you talking about? This Max doesn't do that. She probably went for a race or maybe to kick someone's ass... Possibly getting some money from it," he guessed.

Alec chuckled. "You're right, my bad."

"You can bet your ass I did," Maxie said from behind them.

They turned to look at her. "Hey, Maxie. Did you make anyone cry?" Alec asked her.

Maxie winked at him. "You know it."

"You had breakfast already, Maxie? You know, to celebrate?" Liz asked the other girl.

"Nope, count me in for some of those," she said pointing to the omelettes Michael was cooking.

Fifteen minutes later, the whole group sans Kyle was gathered in the living room, some of them on the couches and chairs, the rest sitting on the floor around the coffee table full of plates and glasses. Just then Kyle came out of the bathroom, finished with his shower.

"The bath's free," he announced.

"That's okay," Michael answered. "You were the last in the morning turn."

"Okay then," Alec started, "if we're all here now, there's something we have to tell you." He paused looking for the right way to explain their decision without letting out Liz's secret. The only thing he could think off was to ignore the fact that maybe they wouldn't have a choice in the matter. He addressed Evans directly. "I know you said you would do everything in your power to send us back to our times, but we've all decided there won't be anything left for us there if we succeed." Alec let his words hang in the air.

"You mean you're staying here?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Maxie said for them all. "Think about it, guys, there are babies there... And other things... We can't just leave them all to fend for themselves."

"Well, of course not," Maria cut in, scandalized. "They're babies! They can't 'fend' for themselves."

Biggs snorted. "There are kids up to four years old there. Believe me, they _can_ fend all right. But that doesn't mean they should."

"Besides, the world wouldn't know what hit it if we let them loose," Alec added in a teasing tone, lighting the mood.

"Anyway," Maxie went on with her reasoning. "If we were on an early year, before they succeeded in their experiments, then it would be different"

"Of course it would. You'd disappear the moment you blew the place up," Alex interrupted her again. He missed the sudden tension affecting half of the group.

"What!" Kyle exclaimed, voicing what the other half was thinking.

"What?" Alex said defensively. "I've watched _Back to the Future_, okay? If they stop themselves from being created they'll disappear, you know, like when Michael J. Fox's character's mother wanted to go with the dance with him instead of with his father and that would mean they wouldn't get together and have children hence Michael J. Fox started fading into nothingness."

"Well, then what would happen, according to _Back to the Future_ when we destroy Manticore in this time?" Maxie asked Alex, but Alec spoke first.

"Oh I know that! We'll create an alternate universe where our future selves will have lived different lives. Say Zack makes a career on professional boxing and wins a lot of money, instead of being in that farm he is now he'll be in a big city with a hot chick on each arm and rolls of bills in his pockets."

They all looked at him as if he was crazy, not all of them for the same reason.

"Zack's in a farm!" Max exclaimed horrified.

"You've seen _Back to the Future_!" Alex said at the same time.

"Yeah, of course. I love me my 'boob tube'," Alec told Alex shrugging and then looked at Maxie. "Long story. Don't worry, sooo not gonna happen this time, trust me."

Kyle shook his head, maybe trying to push away the image of Alec saying 'boob tube', and stood, stretching his legs. "Okay, let's go back a bit, what did you mean when you said babies and 'other things'?" he asked Maxie, making air quotes.

Maxie looked at the other three transgenics. She was the least experienced of them all when it came to transhumans and, truth be told, she still had to overcome her childhood fears fuelled by Ben's stories for years. Alec had promised her that once she met Joshua, a canine transhuman to whom she'd been almost a 'mother' in his time, she'd get over her misgivings. Still, she didn't think she was the most appropriate choice to answer Kyle.

CeCe spoke instead. "First tries of most everything will probably fail, combining human and animal DNA is no different. The process is called 'trial and error' for a reason and Manticore's errors came out looking a lot more animal than they intended."

The transgenics went on to explain about the transhumans and the anomalies, shocking the Roswellians considerably. When everything was said and done they all went to pack. It was time to leave Washington D.C.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They'd been on the road for a few hours, the RV had just made a stop to pick up Liz who had been riding with Alec for a while but Isabel had offered to sit with her and Alex to work on their powers so Liz had changed vehicles.

The three of them were alone in the back of the RV, with Biggs driving and Kyle driving him mad with questions. Liz felt bad for Biggs, Kyle on a quest was not something she wished on anyone... What was so hot about mermaids and literal catwomans, anyway?

"Don't worry, Liz, none of those are as exotic and gorgeous as an alien woman. I'm sure Alec would agree with me," Alex said, nudging Liz and leering at her, barely concealing his laughter.

Liz was surprised for a moment until she realized that Alex must have read her thoughts. _'I'm not going to blush, I'm not going to blush,'_ she repeated in her mind while she pasted an indifferent look on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said unconvincingly.

"I'm not going to blush, I'm not going to blush," Alex sing-sang mockingly.

Isabel burst out laughing when Liz's eyes widened in dismay and embarrassment earning herself a glare from the flustered girl.

Liz opened her mouth and then promptly closed it again, at a loss for words. "I... Mmm... Shut up!" she said finally, laughing herself.

"So," Isabel started coyly, leaning over the table towards Liz, "now that the guys can't hear"

"Sitting right here, girls," Alex interrupted.

"And?" Isabel replied, totally ignoring him otherwise, "Tell me, Liz, what happened?"

"What are you now, Maria? I'm not telling you anything," Liz replied. "I thought we were going to practice with our powers." She really tried to keep thoughts of last night out of her mind. Tried.

"Oh, I'm practicing," Alex chimed in happily... To Liz's horror.

"Okay, that's it. Teach us how to control these powers so that I can forbid him to do that," Liz stressed.

Alex laughed, enjoying making Liz squirm, but Isabel frowned.

"I can't really do that, you know that, right?" Iz asked.

"Do what?" Liz said perplexed; she'd been joking, mostly, she didn't see what Isabel was so serious about.

"I can't teach you how to control them. I mean, I don't really know how your powers work, mine might be close but it's not really the same and"

"Hey, Iz, relax, I know that," Liz cut off her babbling. "We both know that."

Alex was nodding. "Sure, Iz, no need to stress over this, we'll figure it out together," he said, hugging her to him and kissing her hair.

Isabel smiled, "Okay then, I've been thinking about this, you know, what we need to do is learn to shut it off, so that your head doesn't go all human sponge thus killing headache," she said excitedly.

"Nicely put," Liz commented.

"Thank you, now the difference between my dreamwalking and your... Mindwalking?" she ventured, looking at Alex.

"What happened to good ol' telepathy or reading minds?" Alex joked.

"It doesn't sound very alien... And I like to think of it like an extension of my own powers," Isabel said shyly, almost defensively.

Alex smiled fondly and gave her hand a squeeze. "Mindwalking it is. What about Liz then? What will hers be, heartwalking?"

"That sounds horrible, like I'm stepping all over people's hearts," Liz protested.

"You just gotta keep it in context, Liz. Dream, mind and heartwalking. The alien trio," Alex insisted, trying to sway her, he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Liz rolled her eyes, "Whatever, call it what you want. That won't change what it does one way or another," she relented. "And we're getting off-track here. Iz, what's that difference you were talking about?"

"Right, see, my powers have a switch. When I want to start a dreamwalk I touch a picture and go into a dream state myself. And when I want out I wake myself," she explained, although the other two already knew this; they were nodding their heads.

"Or sometimes the shock kicks you out," Liz added suddenly, remembering the other night with Lydecker.

"Yes, that too. But that's outside the norm. Let's stick with the basics. I'm in control all the time, people can't impose their dreams on me. I choose whose dreams I want to visit," she said.

"But we don't have that," Liz said matter-of-factly.

"I know," Iz agreed, "What I want to try is to give you your own switch."

Both looked at her as if she'd gone crazy. "What?"

"How?"

"Listen, I know it sounds weird, but since the moment we agreed that I'd help you I've been thinking about it and if we don't get a structure to your powers to work with there's not much I can do."

Liz and Alec shared a look. What did they have to lose?

"All right, switch away," Alex said.

"Okay, let's start with you," she said to him. "You don't mind, Liz, do you?"

"No, no, go ahead," she replied.

Isabel turned halfway on her seat to face Alex. "Right, what we need to do is find a visual metaphor for your power," she started.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you need people's minds to be an image in your head that you're comfortable with... Say, a nice 'Pleasantville'-like street with row after row of neat houses with beautiful gardens." Isabel could see the confusion in their eyes. "You know, each house is a person's mind?"

"Sure, and they all have their own doors that you can close in your mind when you don't want to hear their thoughts," Liz jumped in.

"Well, yes and no," Iz corrected her. "I mean, at first I thought that too, but closing doors is a conscious act he would have to do and when he's swamped with thoughts and his head starts aching the last thing he needs is to have to struggle with doors he needs to close, you know what I mean?" she asked both of them.

Alex was nodding his head, he knew when he was hearing everyone's thoughts and his head was killing him he wasn't capable of doing much. He'd had a couple of incidents like the first day and Alex was sure they needed something easier for his mind. "So then, what exactly were you suggesting?"

"The way I see it, it's more like the houses have no doors, and the thoughts are inside but you don't hear them if you don't go inside," Isabel tried to explain. "You're just walking down that street, one foot in front of the other, you're not going inside any of them. If you're having an episode and there are dozens of people's thoughts in your mind all you have to do is focus on your own feet walking pass the doors. No-one's thoughts should be in your head because you don't want them there, you're staying right in the middle of the road, just walking."

Alex was trying to imagine the picture Isabel was painting for him with a dubious face.

"Maybe it would work better with something closer to you," Liz offered, seeing that Alex wasn't too taken in by the idea. "Imagine you're walking down an aisle of a music shop and there are guitars hanging on the walls. But you have the plectrum in your hand. If you want to hear someone's 'tune'," she said smiling at herself, "You 'play' them. And when you don't want that, just see the plectrum in your hand, no-one should be playing because the plectrum is in your hand... How's that?" she asked timidly.

"Okay, I can see that... But just because I can see it now it doesn't mean I can make it happen... Does it?"

Isabel shook her head, "No, not just like that. I don't think. But I can help you make it happen... I think. That's what I meant, I want to put that switch in your mind. If you let me," she added hastily.

"How?" Alex asked, dismissing Isabel reassurances, he knew she would never do anything to him without his permission, he trusted Isabel completely.

Isabel smiled at him and Liz couldn't help but feel happy for Alex, for how happy Isabel made him. After everything Alex had suffered while Isabel searched for her place in her life and that of those around her, Liz was really happy for him; for both of them.

Isabel was speaking again. "Well, we'll form a connection and then I put that image in your mind, you know I can do that in dreams, change things, make them the way I want to, so when you need to you can access that picture in your mind and use it."

"I guess we can try it," Alex said, not really sure how it would work out but willing to try.

"Okay, you want to do it now?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

Liz watched as Isabel took Alex's hands and they locked eyes. Liz had never seen a connection from the outside, she could only guess what was happening inside them right now, but she saw Alex's thumbs caressing Isabel's hands, and Isabel's lips curve into a light smile at whatever she'd just seen, and the way Alex's eyes twinkled with mischievousness. The blush colouring Isabel's cheeks convinced Liz she didn't really want to keep watching.

She got up from the table and went to the kitchenette. She turned on the kettle to make herself a cup of coffee. She opened a drawer and suddenly a mug and a spoon came floating out of it and landed softly on the counter. Liz yelped softly, confused, and then heard Kyle from the cabin. "Sorry, Liz, just practicing."

Liz rolled her eyes, smiling. "Thanks, Kyle."

"Make coffee for three, Liz," Isabel said.

Liz turned around to see Isabel and Alex had broken their connection and were leaning back in their seats.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

"It went fine, I think," Isabel said. "I put the image there. Now we have to work on how to use it."

"What do you mean 'we', I thought 'I' had to make it work," Alex teased her.

"Oh, fine. You do it alone then," she huffed, sticking her tongue out at him.

Alex leaned over and kissed her quickly. One on her mouth, one on her nose.

Liz caught the three coffees and took them to the table. "All right, kiddies, I'm back now. Be good."

Isabel pushed Alex away, laughing. "So now what? You practice?" she asked Alex. "Or we find your switch, Liz?"

"Oh, oh, I have the perfect one for her," Alex said excitedly. "How about a library, full of books... or a lab, with all the measuring glasses and stuff."

"Alex!" Isabel scolded him.

"I think I like the library idea," Liz said. "It suits me."

"Okay then. You want to do it now?" Isabel asked her.

"Fine, but don't go snooping around for details of last night," Liz said, waving her finger at her.

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'll be good."

Liz let Isabel take her hands and looked at the other girl in the eyes. She was more comfortable with the hand holding than she'd been with Max's way, of course once he'd actually opened the connection...

All thought fled Liz's mind the moment she found herself in a strange surrounding, standing with Isabel, still holding hands. Liz looked around, it seemed like they were surrounded in mist, she could see nothing around them and, looking down, see realized they were kind of floating, but not. Liz wasn't sure how to explain it, even to herself.

"Then don't," Isabel said.

Liz looked back at her, startled, then remembered they shared a connection, it wasn't strange that Isabel knew what she was thinking.

Isabel smiled, "Ever the little scientist."

"Sorry," Liz apologized shrugging. "So, what's this place? This isn't... I've never been here before," she rephrased what she'd been about to say.

Isabel gave her a knowing look. "No, you wouldn't. We all have our own way of connecting. Besides, it's not the same as giving flashes to someone. What Max did to you... He was trying to show himself to you. This is different."

"Okay, that kinda makes sense," Liz said, thinking over Isabel's words. "Then what is this?"

"I've established a link to you, and since what I'm trying to do is put an image in your mind, the way I do in dreamwalks, I've chosen to take you to the dream state... More or less," Isabel specified. "It's not exactly the same. Now you need to consciously open up your mind to me."

"Me? I thought you'd be the one doing everything."

"I could," Isabel replied. "But I think it would be better if you give me an opening. If... If I do it all myself it would be too much like a mindwarp, you know, imposing a false memory on you."

Liz shuddered, the hateful word sparking instant hate and disgust in her. Suddenly, the somewhat cold mist that had been around them warmed up immediately. Liz realized Isabel had done so on purpose, to soothe Liz back into an open and relaxed state.

"What do I have to do then?" Liz asked.

"Just give me a memory, or a dream, anything that comes from you would do"

Isabel stopped talking abruptly because their surroundings had changed suddenly and it hadn't been her doing. She looked around and saw she was in a park at night, and in a bench 'sat' Liz straddling Alec's lap and kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Isabel heard Liz gasp and quickly turned around, looking away from the couple. She could see the embarrassment in Liz's face and Isabel knew for sure that the memory had slipped from Liz's mind unchecked and uncensored.

Laughing inwardly, Isabel promptly took control of the background and changed it into the image she wanted to give the other girl.

Liz sighed relieved when the air around her shifted and then she found herself in the middle of an antique-looking library. Liz looked around herself; she was in the entry of a huge aisle of shelves full of books from top to bottom. Isabel had purposefully removed herself from the picture and Liz walked down the corridor alone. It was well lit, even though she couldn't see any windows or lamps, and the air around her smelled of leather and a small tinge of dust, but not too much, just enough to give off that feeling of being in a library, so close to the real thing that Liz found herself wondering if it had been the same for Alex.

Focus on yourself, Liz, Isabel's voice rang in her mind, chiding.

Liz smiled and let herself be lost in the fantasy before her eyes.

Alex watched the two girls, seeping his coffee. He wasn't sure this switch idea would work but he was more than willing to try it, he would try anything that might give him some control over this new power. He had never felt as helpless as when he'd been unable to shut the voices in his head. Not even Tess's 'work' on his brain. Because this was something _he_ was doing, and he didn't know how to stop it. Alex didn't like that feeling, his involvement in the group took enough control over his life. He was determined to master his gift and fit into his own skin again.

The movement from the girls pulled him from his thoughts. Liz blinked a few times letting go of Isabel.

"How did it go?" Alex asked.

"Good," Isabel said simply, smiling.

Liz was nodding her head when she remembered exactly what Isabel had seen and she looked at her alarmed. Isabel just winked at her.

"And now what?" Alex asked again.

"First thing is trying to apply your switch," Isabel started, focusing on their task and letting go of Liz's memory for now. "And once you can make that work we can move onto the control part."

"Have you ever tried that?" Liz asked her. Seeing Isabel didn't know what she meant she elaborated. "I mean practice with your powers with a set goal in mind, you know, like 'I'm going to try and see if I can do this'," Liz explained.

Isabel thought about it. "Nah, not really. We've always been trying to be human. Michael didn't have much control and Max was always busy trying to be invisible... I did use my powers, recreationally, but I never tried to exercise them for the sake of practice or improvement," she mused. After a moment of silence, she added, "But I think I will, you know, when we get back and everything."

They stayed silent for a moment, each of them thinking about the end of the journey. Finished with her coffee, Liz set the mug on the table with the other two. The moment she let go of the handle the three mugs levitated from the table and started floating towards the sink.

"Hey! I wasn't finished!" Isabel exclaimed.

"Sorry," Kyle yelled from the cabin, but the mugs kept going.

"Anyway, what exactly do you mean when you say 'the control part'?" Alex asked Isabel.

"I mean like Kyle's doing, he's practicing with Michael to test his limits: how far, how heavy and how available the object he moves can be; things like that. You have to do the same. For example, how many people can you read at the same time? Do you have to be in the same room as them? Can you single out one specific person from a group?" She turned to Liz. "Oh, I just thought of something, could you sense when someone's lying from their feelings! That would be really useful."

"I'll say," Liz agreed.

"Anyway, things like that. Kyle's trying to test the distance factor now, Michael told me. We'll have to work on that too, but first things first. I'm offering myself as guinea pig for the both of you."

"Oh goodie!" Alex said, wiggling his eyebrows silly.

"Shut up," Isabel chuckled. "This is serious."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The gas station was full, the queue for all the pumps had at least five waiting cars, but the RV needed to refuel now so they had decided to make a dinner stop. They were all in the diner next to the gas station, just talking and relaxing after a meal, except for Biggs and CeCe.

They had told the group they were going for a walk and that they wouldn't take long. They had a pending talk and there was no use postponing it.

"CeCe, I know we haven't really talked about this before... Hell, until a week ago we've never even talked about 'us' before," Biggs started.

"Yeah, denial is such a nice state," CeCe said awkwardly.

Biggs smiled, as much at her words as at herself; God, he loved her. "Yes, it is. But it doesn't make reality any less true," he said, caressing her hand with his thumb. "And you know that I've wanted to mate with you for a long time."

CeCe stopped walking, forcing Biggs to stop as well. She looked at Biggs in the eyes. "I know that, Biggs. I've always known that. This has nothing to do with 'us'... I mean, we were heading that way anyway, we both know that. My heat just made it sooner. It's just that..." she trailed off, and Biggs said it for her.

"It's just that now you're almost certainly pregnant and that's a whole different story, isn't it?"

CeCe nodded, searching his eyes for his honest reaction.

"Well it's not. Not for me," Biggs added, letting her see in his eyes that he meant it.

"Biggs, come on, of course it is. Since when do you want to be a father?"

Biggs thought about his answer, this was too important to fuck it up with jokes. He knew how vulnerable CeCe felt right now. "Ce, I know this sounds like I'm just trying to appease you or something, but it's not. I do want to be a father. I want to be the father of 'our' baby," he said forcefully, willing her to believe him.

"But, Biggs"

"No, Ce, I know, really. If we'd had this conversation before your heat I probably wouldn't have felt this way. But we're having it now. And something's changed." Biggs raised the hand he was holding to his forehead. "Here," he said, then lowered his hand to his mouth and kissed it before pressing it over his heart. "And here." CeCe's eyes were misty but she was smiling. "This is what I want. And maybe it is some kind of programmed response, one I'm sure Manticore didn't plan or know about, but it is still my response... I don't know how to explain it. I just want this. I want to have a baby with you."

CeCe wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, and kissed him. She understood what he meant. It was the same for her. She may not have planned it but she was looking forward to being a mother now.

Biggs smiled at her when they pulled back. "Besides, it's not like we weren't going to be parent figures anyway. We'll have a hundred kids to take care of very soon," he joked, happy to have gotten that conversation over with.

CeCe was smiling but she couldn't let that go. "You know it's not the same, Biggs. This will be our baby. It definitely won't be the same."

Biggs had hugged her, speaking into her neck. "I know, babe."

CeCe chuckled. "I kind of like the sound of that. Who would've thought?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Tired of the bike already?"

Alec took his eyes from the road to look at Liz in the passenger seat of the SUV and smiled. "No, but Biggs and CeCe wanted a while on their own, and Maxie didn't feel like driving the SUV."

"There's no one with them in the back of the RV?" Liz asked, making a head count mentally.

Alec shook his head, "I think Iz is there, she was going to try the dreamwalk again."

"Oh," Liz shifted in her seat to face Alec more comfortable. She took one look at the back seat where Maria and Michael were sleeping. "Do you think you'll get anything out of it?"

Alec glanced at Liz again, noticing she seemed getting ready for a long talk. "Aren't you tired, Liz? You never went to bed last night, you should get some sleep." Liz just looked at him, waiting for him to answer her. "I don't know, Liz," he said sighing. She was so stubborn. "If I'm honest, I think it was a long shot to begin with. It may help, but we don't 'need' it. If she gets something, well and good. If not, well that's okay too."

Liz smiled; she really liked the way Alec was always in control. He just knew what was going around him and what could happen as a result of it, and he always had a course of action planned. She could count on him.

"What?" Alec asked without looking at her. He could feel her eyes on him and he was curious.

"Nothing," she said coyly.

"Out with it, Parker. What were you thinking?"

Maria mumbled something and snuggled closer to Michael. Liz glanced into the back seat to make sure they were still sleeping. Alec's chuckle brought her eyes back to him. "What's funny?"

"She must be having some dream," Alec said amused.

Liz gasped, Maria had told her about some of her dreams and it had taken a while for her face to cool down. "Hmm... She's..." Liz trailed off.

Alec looked at her surprised, one look at her face and he snickered. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Liz, she was saying 'Aliens don't have tentacles'."

Liz laughed and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Careful, Liz, don't tempt me," he mock-threatened her.

Liz just pouted and then licked her lips slowly. The darkening of Alec's eyes made her feel sexy, it wasn't a feeling she was all that familiar with. And she also marvelled at how easily he could make her want him.

Alec smirked knowingly. "You know, I'd never really been around teenagers so much before, and I gotta say, people your age are horny half of the time... And that's only the girls. With the guys it's more like 90 of the time," he chuckled.

"God, it's so embarrassing that you can smell that," Liz mumbled. "Don't tell the others about that."

Alec snorted. "Yeah, well, it's not something I would've chosen to do. Sometimes it can be downright scary." Liz rose an enquiring eyebrow. "The woman from the cash register in the gas station? She wanted me. The lady from the colourful car right behind my bike? The one with the big hat and lime green jacket? That one too. And her son - I'm going to pretend it was her son for my own sanity - totally wanted you."

Liz had to laugh. He looked almost like a kid whose candy has been stolen. She leaned over to him and whispered in his ear. "So this enhanced... Are you like Terminator when you're driving or something?"

Alec looked at her amused. "Depends on what you're thinking about."

"Well, if I were to do something distracting like... Say, kiss you," she breathed on his ear, nibbling on the earlobe a bit, "You won't crash the car or anything, will you?"

Alec chuckled, shaking his head softly. "Kiss away, beautiful, it'll take so much more than that to make me lose control of the car," he challenged her.

Liz narrowed her eyes, _'Cocky bastard!'_ So he wanted to play, did he? She manoeuvred her upper body under the arm he had on the wheel, resting her weight on the edge of his seat and latched her mouth to his neck. Alec closed his eyes briefly. No matter what he'd said, Liz did affect his control doing little more than breathing close to him. Focusing his attention back on the road he gave thanks for his years of training. Liz took her time, kissing from ear to ear and then up his jaw to his mouth. By the time she pulled his lower lip in between hers the car was going considerably faster. She went back to his ear. "In a hurry, control boy?"

Alec nipped her shoulder making her laugh softly, she sure didn't want the sleeping couple to wake up now.

"Point taken, vixen," Alec whispered seductively.

Liz gave him a soft peck on the lips before going back to her seat, a satisfied smile on her face. Alec's next words whipped the smile real fast.

"Mmm... Glad to know I'm not the only one affected."

"Urgh!" Liz slapped him playfully and he chuckled.

"You know who else I've noticed smells pretty sweet lately around certain alien king?" Alec said suddenly, letting Liz off the hook.

"Who?" she asked surprised. If it was someone of the group, by elimination, that left...

"Maxie," Alec whispered conspirationally.

Liz couldn't hide her shocked look. "Really?"

Alec nodded and watched Liz's face as she processed that bit of news, curious about her reaction in spite of himself. After giving it some thought, Liz smiled.

"That makes sense... In that 'nothing really makes sense' way things always are with you guys," she said, nodding towards Alec and then Michael in the back.

"Well, excuse me, miss human turned alien, how are you any different from us?"

Liz shrugged. "I just am," she said smugly.

Alec chuckled. "That you are."

Liz sent him a kiss. "Anyway, I'm happy for them, I never would've thought it but I'm still happy for th"

"Oh no, no, no," Alec cut her off. "You are not happy for anyone, you hear me?" he threatened, waving a finger at her. "It doesn't mean anything. It does mean she 'likes' him and much less he likes her. It just means she's attracted to him... Just like she's probably attracted to a lot of guys. You are not telling anyone about this." Alec pointed behind him. "Not Maria, not Max, and by God! Not Maxie. She may kill you... Or worse, me."

"Okay, okay, calm down, Alec. I won't," Liz said, rather amused by his reaction. "Are you afraid of Maxie, Alec?"

"Psst, please... Of course not," he said, offended she would even think something like that. "But you don't cross a female transgenic if you know what's good for you. I did once and... Let's just say I walked like a cowboy for a week," he muttered darkly.

Liz thought it was best to take his thoughts from 'that' topic. "You know, I still don't really see it. I mean, Maxie seems so... I don't know... Wild, I guess. And Max is... Max."

"Yeah, well, believe it or not, I think our Maxie likes serious, responsible guys. She was dating someone like that in 2021. Thankfully," he added after a small pause, "I like this one better. The other one was an ass."

"Oh, you like Max then?" Liz asked curious.

"He's okay. Not my style of guy... And some of the things I've heard would really get his ass kicked if I'd been around when he did them... But he's okay."

"What things? And heard where?" she asked suspicious. Who had been telling Alec stories?

"Just things," he replied mysteriously, hiding a laugh when he saw her narrowing eyes. "And mostly from Maria and Isabel," Alec saw her open mouth and added, "And you."

"I've never told you 'those' things"

"Yeah, me neither," Maria interrupted Liz.

They both turned around surprised to see Maria was awake. Her voice had Michael stirring too.

"Hmm... I must be slipping," Alec commented. "Normally I would've noticed the moment you woke up."

"Yeah, how? I kept my eyes closed," Maria said.

"By the change in your breathing," Alec explained.

"Don't change the subject, mister. How did you hear us?" Liz insisted.

Alec smirked. "Oh come on, are you kidding? You three have spent almost two weeks in a continuous sleepover in Washington."

"In our room!" Maria exclaimed indignantly, but Liz was shaking her head.

Alec looked at the blond girl through the rearview mirror. "You really don't get the meaning of transgenic hearing, do you?"

"Man, you are so sharing later," Michael grumbled, his voice thick with sleep.

"No, he's not!" Maria and Liz exclaimed at the same time. Alec just laughed.

Maria watched the knowing looks and easy camaraderie between Alec and Michael and an idea popped into her head. "Hey! I know what we can do!"

"Besides driving, you mean?" Alec asked smirking.

"Not now, smart ass. When we go back to Roswell. We can go on a double date!"

"NOO!" three voices shouted at once.

"What?" Maria asked perplexed.

"You know, Maria, Alec's not into the whole 'dating' thing," Liz started, flinching.

"Me neither, for that matter," Michael mumbled under his voice.

"Really?" Alec asked over his shoulder, glancing at Michael. "What's your thing then?"

"My place, Maria and a DVD."

"Nice," Alec said.

"So what's your thing then?" Maria wanted to know.

Alec shrugged. "A good work out comes to mind." Maria gasped and Liz blushed, Michael just laughed. "Kidding, girls. A night with pool, scotch and good company works for me just fine," Alec chuckled. Liz punched his arm. "Careful there, tiger, I'm driving."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This way," Max said, pointing to the opening into the sewers.

"You've gotta be kidding me, the sewers?" Alec asked dismayed. He turned to scowl at Maxie.

"Hey! Why are you glaring at me now! He said it," Maxie said, nodding at Max.

"Déjà vu," Alec grumbled.

Biggs snickered, knowing how many sewers their Max had dragged Alec into all last year. Alec hated it. Not that Biggs enjoyed walking through the sewers either. He frowned. Alec saw it and grinned.

"Who would live like this?" Isabel spat, looking at the grim and trying to ignore the smell.

"Someone with nowhere else to go," Michael said simply, exchanging a look with Max. This could have been them.

The short trek into the dupes' crib was a quiet one. They had no way of knowing if Rath and Lonnie were there. Max led the way, flanked by the transgenics and Michael on the rear with Biggs.

When they came out of the tunnel and into the abandoned metro station the dupes called home, the group stood in place, looking around. The place was empty and it was even messier than the last time Max had been there. Isabel looked around herself, shuddering.

All eyes travelled to the four pods hanging off the wall. Isabel walked up to them slowly, pausing before each of them for a moment before moving to the next. Then she went back to the second from the right and stared at it.

"That's Vilandra's," she murmured. Alex came up behind her and put her arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

They separated, checking around for anything alien the dupes could have. Michael kept thinking how much worse this situation was than his, really. Something conventionally considered a 'home', even if the lowest kind, plus Hank or this crib and the three people closest to you. He snorted mentally. Not that Rath seemed to care all that much about the others. He manhandled Ava, killed Zan and used Lonnie as a sex toy. Oh yeah! He was a regular family boy.

Alex eyed the couch with interest. Ten pairs of eyes were enough, right? He was about to sit down when Max's voice stopped him. "I wouldn't do that," he said.

"Why not?"

"Let's just say... Rath was very 'friendly' to Lonnie on that couch..."

"Eww..."

"My thoughts exactly," Max agreed with a shudder.

Michael could hear the others commenting on every little detail of this alien zoo. But he kept to his own, the unwanted memories he'd been suppressing and ignoring for years forced to the surface in this desolate place.

"What are all these CDs doing her?" CeCe asked, looking at the stack of Lonnie's CDs next to the couch. "There's no electricity here."

Isabel smirked, "No need. Look," she said, walking up to it. One wave of her hand and music filled the crib for a moment.

"Wow! That's great!"

By the time Michael went back to the hanging pods he'd placed the origin of that vibe tingling all through his body. He went directly to the first pod on the right, next to Lonnie's, and used a box as a ladder to put his hand through the crack that ran on its front.

"Oh, Michael!" Maria started, her voice a clear indicator of her feelings. "That's just"

"Disgusting, I know," Michael finished for her. "But necessary, believe me."

Everyone's attention now on Michael, he pulled his hand out, a dark orb cradled in it. He wiped the rests of dried up goo from the pod with the other hand and stepped down from the box. The five silvery stars looking back at him, Michael traced them with a finger, a small smile on his face, half awe and half pride. He'd done it. He'd found his orb.

"Yo! That's mine!"

They all turned around as one. Rath and Lonnie stood in the opening of the tunnel, barely visible in the darkness... For some.

With two hand signals and three steps, the transgenics closed flanks around the group. Thankfully, Michael finding the orb had made sure they were all together when Rath and Lonnie appeared.

"I don't think so... Yo!" Michael replied.

"I don't give no fuck what you think, ai'ight? That shit's mine," Rath spat, taking a step forward.

"Uh hu," Biggs warned, a thunderous look on his face. He was the closest to the dupes.

"Or what?" Lonnie mocked with her superior chilly tone. She took a step too but she didn't try to get closer, just walked sideways looking over the group. She saw all the familiar faces and the new ones. "You been pickin' up strays... Max?" she asked, smacking her gum loudly.

"You could say that." Max didn't want to take his eyes from either of them but Lonnie had moved away from Rath, so he'd followed her. She'd always been the one pulling the strings, anyway. And it wasn't as if Rath wasn't covered. Michael was sure to be watching his dupe closely, he was the one with the firepower after all.

The 'humans' had ended up in the middle without even noticing. The air around them crackled and the alien energy surrounding them kept rising. Obviously, the five aliens were getting ready for a show down. Alex and Liz closed their eyes, keeping themselves open but, with luck, in control.

"Whatcha doin' here, _bro_?" Lonnie asked, smiling coldly at Max, ignoring everyone else. But it wasn't Max who answered.

"We came for what's ours," Isabel said, chin held high. She, too, could be an ice cold bitch if she wanted.

"Told you that's mine" Rath started but a look from Lonnie shut him up.

"Hi, Vilandra. Betrayed anyone lately?" Lonnie taunted her.

"Look in the mirror, _Lonnie_, you're the only betraying bitch around here," Isabel spat.

_'This is going nowhere,'_ Alec thought, keeping his eyes on Rath at the same time that he used his other senses to make sure that Liz and the others were covered and safe. He and Biggs were on Rath, and he could see Maxie and CeCe on the other side following Lonnie's every move.

Lonnie swept her eyes over the group again, looking for the perfect target that would hurt the most. Spying the dark haired girl in between the figures of the two new guys, she smirked nastily.

Rath, I think the king's pet would be a great first blow, she ordered.

Alex's eyes widened to the size of saucers. He'd heard Lonnie. He then looked at Rath and saw the delighted gleam in his eyes. _'Oh shit!'_ "Liz!"

Everything happened at once.

Rath raised his arm at the same time Michael did.

The four transgenics fired the tranq guns at once. Two for Rath, two for Lonnie. The fact that Alec was flying when he shot not affecting his aim at all.

Two equally powerful blasts shot from Rath and Michael at the same time that Max put his shield up, the last from Michael's shot bouncing off and making Max stagger.

"Michael, no!" Max shouted, and Michael's blast stopped, but his arm never came back down. Neither did Rath's.

Seven bodies hit the floor.

Max concentrated on keeping up the shield. Michael's blast had felt like being ran over by a truck. Damn!

Rath smirked. This was too easy. The king wouldn't last long.

"What are you smirking about?" Max spat.

"Guns, man? What were you thinkin'?" Rath laughed.

It was Max's turn to gloat. He just looked at Lonnie.

Rath followed his gaze to see Lonnie's body lying on the floor, unmoving. Rath could see two darts coming out of her flesh. One in her neck. One in her heart. Fury welled up inside him.

"Everyone okay? Maria?" Michael asked, not taking his eyes from Rath.

Choruses of 'Yes' and 'Fine' followed his question. All but one.

"Just perfect," Alec groaned.

"Alec?" Liz manoeuvred her body from under his where she'd landed when Alec tackled her out of the way.

"I'm fine, Liz," he reassured her even though his whole upper body felt ablaze. "Just what the hell do those blast things do anyway?" he asked Michael's back. "And why isn't the Mohawk down? Even if I missed, which I doubt, Biggs should've hit him," he grounded out, annoyed.

"The blast disintegrated the darts," Biggs answered him. He was probably the only one who'd seen what happened to their shots.

"So, now what?" Rath taunted them. "We wait till the duke cracks and fuck the light show so I can blast you all? Yo, make it fast, there's a hockey game I don't wanna miss."

Maxie, Biggs and CeCe studied the situation, running scenarios through their minds, looking for the fastest and more efficient way of ending the face-off.

But it was Michael who moved.

His arm still raised he took the two steps separating him from Max and stopped right beside him. He tightened his fist around the orb he was still holding with his left hand, took a deep breath and then put his right hand on Max's back, right between his shoulder blades.

"You better trust me, Maxwell," he said under his breath.

Max opened his mouth to ask Michael what he meant but no words came out. He felt a rush of fire travelling all over his body. Pins and needles cut through his skin. Pure, white, burning energy made his skin crawl, every hair in his standing on end. The faintest gurgle left his mouth before the most amazing blast he'd ever seen came out of his hand, green like the shield still coming out of the same hand.

Michael's blast – empowered by Max's own energy - lighted up the whole crib. Everything in his path obliterated.

It lasted only five seconds. When it died down, there was nothing but a burnt brick wall standing before them. The shield also disappeared and both Max and Michael bent over, out of breath.

The shock that had kept everyone immobilized vanished.

"What the hell was that!" and other variants flew from almost every mouth.

"You okay, Maxwell?" Michael asked, reaching over to put his hand on Max's shoulder.

Max raised his head, his eyes wide and still very much in shock. "Don't EVER do that again," he gasped out.

With everyone moving around, checking on the two aliens still recovering and the transgenic down, no one ever noticed the still figure in the shadows.

_'Well, well, well. It certainly looks like the kid can take care of them after all.'_ Langley smirked. _'It'd be one less thing to worry about if I could actually stop keeping an eye on them.'_ Shaking his head, he turned around and disappeared into the dark tunnel.

They had laid Alec face down on the couch. The blast had gotten him on the shoulder blade when he'd stepped in front of Liz to push her down.

Alec wasn't complaining, not only because he didn't want to worry the more impressionable members of the group, especially Liz, but also because this wound felt so much different than any other he'd ever gotten. It felt nothing like a shot and Alec didn't want to take his attention off his body's response.

His t-shirt had disintegrated almost completely. The skin of his back was a vivid scarlet, almost as if he'd been on the sun too long. There were spots where the skin had fallen off completely but the flesh beneath was bleeding very little. All in all, the wound didn't look all that bad, Alec knew that, he could see it on his upper arm. But it felt so much worse. Kind of like some of the chemical testing they used to perform in Manticore, but worse.

Liz was sitting on the couch, Alec's upper body on her lap, and she was stroking his head, murmuring little nothings trying to comfort him. Alec felt a grin tugging at his lips. It felt nice.

The rest was surrounding the couch. They were waiting for Max to get his breath back, that blast had really taken its toll on him and he'd needed a moment.

Max kneeled before the couch, breath still laboured but recovered enough to heal Alec. "Okay, let's do this," he rasped out.

"Are you sure you're okay now?" Isabel asked worried.

"Yes, Iz, I'm fine; he needs to be healed now," Max insisted.

"It doesn't look that bad," Maria objected, also worried about Max. Michael had been fine a lot sooner. "I'm sure he can wait a bit longer"

"I said I'm fine," Max insisted, putting his hand in the middle of Alec's wound, where the blast had impacted. "It's gotta feel a lot worse than it looks like."

Alec looked at Max wearily. "If he can argue already let him do it. He's right, it feels like this thing is cooking me from the inside," he said.

"Why didn't you say so then?" Liz gasped.

Alec just shrugged his good - better - shoulder, still looking at Max. "You don't have to 'connect' with me or anything, do you?"

"I don't know. Let's try it without first, okay?"

Alec nodded and closed his eyes. He really wanted this to be over. Where was a nice bullet hole when you needed it? Pull out the bullet, cauterize the wound; grit your teeth and pretend you're somewhere else. He could do that. He'd done that dozens of times. But this? God! It was like someone was peeling off his skin, little by little, on the outside while holding a torch to the inside. Just what the hell had that bastard done?

"You know, what I don't get is why Alec's alive?" Kyle asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at him, unbelieving. "What? Look what happened to Pierce! One blast and he was toast. And that was Michael's... What, second blast? I'm sure Michael is a lot more powerful now, and Rath must have been blasting away the moment he crawled out of that stinking pod," he explained, nodding to the wall.

"He's right," Michael said. "It should've killed him."

"Because it was just a game for them, it was supposed to be a blow for Max," Alex explained quietly, "Lonnie called her 'the king's pet'. They didn't see Liz as a threat."

Alec felt a chill go down his spine. To think there was nothing he could've done if Rath had wanted to kill. He knew how to take a bullet, where it should hit to minimize the damage. There was no safe place to take a killing blast.

Liz squeezed the hand she was holding.

Suddenly, Alec realized the fire in his body was letting up. He could almost breathe normally now, instead of forcing himself to pretend to do so to reassure the others, especially Liz who was holding him so close. He let his breath out in a long sigh.

"Better?" Max asked leaning back.

Alec nodded. "Thanks, man."

"There's still more to heal but the blast has stopped going deeper now."

"What, like radiation or something?" Maxie asked.

Max nodded. "It was still working." He looked back at Alec. "You should've said something. It was done with your muscle and starting on your ribs. If you'd waited more it could've gone all the way to the vital organs, killing you."

Alec shrugged, "Yeah, I know. I felt it going all the way through the muscle. I wouldn't have let it go farther than mid-bone."

"You knew exactly where it was, I mean, anything beyond 'pain'?" Isabel asked astonished.

"We're really aware of our bodies," CeCe explained nonchalantly, shrugging off the surprise from all those not transgenic.

Max put his hand back on Alec's shoulder. "Just a bit more."

It only took a few moments. They all watched as Alec's skin mended itself, the bleeding stopping, the scratches healing, the color of the skin going down to a perfect tan.

Max took his hand away and moments later a silver handprint appeared where his hand had just rested. Liz traced it softly.

"It's warm," she whispered.

Alec sat up, taking what was left of his t-shirt off. "Well, that was fun. What do you all say we get out of here?"

"You can't leave half naked," Maria teased him.

"Ruin my fun," Alec pouted. He looked around. There were some clothes on a corner next to what appeared to be a cot. He took a black t-shirt and put it on. "Good enough."

"Wait, we didn't get to search this place," Max objected. "There might be something more here."

"I don't know... You think they knew how to hide things in the walls?" Isabel asked. "Because we did search the around before they got back."

"I don't think so," Michael said thoughtfully. "I mean, why keep the orb hidden inside the pod if you can make it disappear into the wall?"

"Besides, look around," Maria added. "There's no visible wall here, there's so much crap."

"And, half the crib is now ashes anyway." Biggs nodded to the side the blast had destroyed. "Even the corpses are gone."

"Maybe we should do the other half too," Alec suggested, looking at the pods still hanging for anyone to see.

Max nodded, he looked at Michael. "You up to it?"

Michael waited until they all moved out of the way and blasted the pods, their ashes falling over the crap against the wall.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Maria knocked on the door. They had decided to stay the night in New York and rented some rooms in a motel.

Alec opened the door and let her in. Michael was lying on his bed. Alec looked as if he'd just had a shower, but he was completely dressed again. Maria grabbed his arm, pulling Alec closer. "How are you feeling, bad boy?"

Alec smiled at the blond pixie. "I'm good, Maria." He saw her sneak a glance at Michael. "Can I do something for you? Maybe leave?" he asked knowingly.

"You don't mind, do you? I left Liz all alone in our room," she said, batting her eyelashes at him. Alec just chuckled. Maria hugged him briefly, whispering in his ear, "I'm glad you're okay, Alec, and three doors down."

Alec squeezed her softly and then let her go to Michael. He left the room quietly.

Michael followed Maria around the room. She pulled the curtains closed and turned off the TV he'd been staring at. With one last look around, Maria went to the bed. Getting onto the mattress, she passed one knee over him and straddle him, laying her body down over his where he rested on the headboard, her head fitting perfectly on the hollow in his shoulder. His hands went to her waist on their own, hugging her.

She didn't talk, just having him close was enough for now. Her breath tickled his neck, giving him goose bumps. Michael was caressing her lower back with one hand, the other one was tangled in her hair. He kissed her forehead almost absently.

"So..." Maria started, her voice very soft. "How was your day?"

Michael shrugged, "Weird."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Every day is a weird day for us, Michael." He didn't say anything so Maria tried again. "You found your orb."

"Yeah, I did," Michael sounded lost in thought and Maria didn't want to press him. She just waited. "I felt it really strong. I kinda knew it was there from the moment we got into the crib."

"Mmm," she mumbled, her finger drawing abstract figures on his chest.

"It felt good," he went on. "I know you said I shouldn't worry about it, but I couldn't help it. I'm..." he trailed off.

Maria kissed under his chin softly. "I know. I'm glad you feel better about that now," she whispered. They were silent for a while then, enjoying the feeling of the other one. Michael ran his hand down her spine. Eventually Maria spoke again. "So what now? We've never really talked about this but... You stayed, Michael. What does that mean to your quest for answers?"

Michael sighed. "I don't know, Maria. It's not that I've stopped wanting to know... But..." he hugged her even closer, kissing her hair. "I don't want to give you up for the answers."

Maria felt her heart skip a beat. She'd thought that night when he'd let her 'see' him that she could never feel closer to him, but right then she realized she was wrong. That had been so important, and special, and meaningful... Because it was his past, what made him the man she loved, and how he felt about her. But hearing him say the words tonight knowing he wanted to be by her side no matter what felt so much better. She raised her head and Michael looked at her almost curiously. Maria kissed him softly, keeping it gentle, pouring everything she was feeling into the kiss in spite of the tenderness that surrounded them. When they broke apart she laid her head back on his shoulder and he swept the hair back from her face.

"Besides, you're actually doing more to look for those answers now than you've ever done, right?" she retook the conversation.

"Yeah, funny that thing. I guess I have the transgenics to thank for that."

Maria smiled into his chest. "So we'll just look together from now on, huh?" She held her breath, waiting.

"Yes, that sounds perfect."

She let the air out, relieved. She didn't want to stop Michael's quest. She knew he needed the answers even if he told himself not knowing would be enough. But there was something else in his voice.

She didn't have to think too hard to know what was bothering him. "You had to kill again," she breathed out, not knowing if he'd want to talk to her about it. She hoped he did.

Michael winced. "That I did. With my bare hands."

Maria heard the self-reproach clearly. She felt behind her for his right hand and brought it between them, shifting slightly on her side so she could move. She grasped his hand in between hers and caressed it from the wrist to the fingertips, back and palm. Her thumb traced his knuckles and she kissed them one by one.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your hands?" she murmured, playing with his ring. Michael didn't say anything, he just let her talk. "Well, I do. They're big and strong. But they can be so gentle. When you touch me I feel cherished, loved. I can feel how much you love me by the way you cup my cheeks, I feel as if you could hold my whole world in your hands, Michael." She kissed every fingertip again.

"It's not just that I killed," Michael admitted after a moment.

"It's that you killed yourself," Maria supplied when it seemed that the words failed him.

Michael wondered when she came to understand him so well. "There was a part of him that's in me as well."

"But it doesn't have to be the bad side, Michael."

"I guess not," he agreed, none too convincingly. He changed the direction of the conversation. "There've been times that I worried you might be in danger because of Rath, because of what you are to me... At least I'll sleep better now, knowing you're safe... Or safer, anyway," he settled.

Michael pulled his hand from her grasp and shifted her over himself, snuggling her body into him more comfortably. Maria pulled herself higher on him to get to his face and whispered into his mouth, "I'm as safe as it gets when in your arms, Spaceboy."

Michael smiled and kissed her. The mood so obviously changed now, he wiggled his eyebrows and slid his hands under her top, unstrapping her bra.

Maria nibbled on his bottom lip. With a final tug, she released his lip and asked him, "Do you think they'll mind if Alec spends the night?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Liz opened the door to find Alec on the other side. "Hey, I thought you were Maria."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Liz rolled her eyes. "Actually, she said something about keeping you company while she talked to Michael," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Liz smiled, shaking her head and stepping to the side to let him in. She went back to sit on her bed and Alec closed the door and followed her. He sat at the end of her bed and eyed the journal she was putting on the bedside table but didn't say anything about it.

"How did you end up sharing with Michael anyway?"

"Couldn't tell ya," Alec shrugged. "It used to be Biggs and me against the world but he's dumped me for CeCe." He pouted adorably.

"Poor baby," Liz chuckled nervously.

"I can go bother Maxie if you want," he offered, seeing she was a bit uncomfortable.

"No, don't be stupid," she said hastily, "Stay here. Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"Good as new. I kinda like silvery hand in my back, it's tingly."

Liz smiled. "Yeah, I remember. Can I see it again?"

"You just want to see me naked," he teased her. Pulling off the shirt he wore, he moved on the bed to sit beside Liz, his back to her.

She traced it like she'd done earlier that day, her fingers barely touching his skin.

"Will it last long?"

"Two, maybe three days," she said, not looking at him, her eyes locked on the handprint. Feeling his eyes on her she raised her gaze to see him watching her over his shoulder. Liz leaned in and kissed the mark softly, then moved up to his face and kissed him. "I didn't get to say thank you," she murmured into his mouth.

Alec turned around, reclining his back on the headboard and pulling Liz closer more comfortably. "That's all right, you're doing great now." He felt her smile against his lips. She kissed him again before pulling back.

"Was it really bad?" Her voice was very small and it had lost all playfulness.

Alec sighed. "Worse," he admitted and saw her flinch. "It was just different. I've felt all kinds of pain before but this was new." He shifted, hugging Liz to him, her head on his shoulder. "I know Max would've healed you just as he did me, but I'm still glad it was me and not you."

Liz nodded; she wouldn't say it aloud, she felt bad enough for being so selfish, but she was glad it hadn't been her. One shot had been more than enough for her. That had hurt so much, and Alec said this had been even worse. And she was sure he had a higher threshold pain than her.

The movement against his bare skin reminded her he'd taken his shirt off. He was so warm, and smooth. Without noticing, she started tracing the contour of his pecs and abs with her hand. He felt so good. And the hand he had on her nape, caressing it, felt really good too.

Alec didn't notice the direction Liz's mind had been on. "The only catch to being miraculously healed is that I miss on having you play kinky nurse for me," he joked.

"Well, you're hot enough for us to pretend you're running a fever," she said playfully but with a hint of real curiosity.

"You're right. I am really hot," he agreed smugly. Liz smacked his chest. "Okay, okay. I am hot and it's not a fever. Transgenics' basal nature is a few degrees higher than human's."

"Hmm," Liz nuzzled his upper chest, planting soft kisses along his collarbone, but his words from before gave her thought. "I would've thought you didn't like nurses much, Alec."

Alec looked down at her, raising her chin with his finger. "Not really," he admitted seriously, then he winked. "I'm sure we could find some other thing for you to be." He pushed Liz up along his body and captured her lips in a hungry kiss, his tongue pressing against her lips until she opened up, taking possession of her mouth.

When they broke apart Liz was breathing heavily and her mouth felt tingly. Her hand had ended up resting over his heart and she could feel his heart beating under her fingertips. In that moment, the reality of what had happened that day hit her hard. He could have died today. That thought made her heart constrict. She closed her eyes.

"Liz?" Alec was softly running his thumb over her jawline, still cupping her cheek with one hand, the other one was at her waist holding her close.

"I just... Everything happened so fast..." She finally met his gaze. "You almost died and... I"

"Liz, don't do this." Alec sat up, looking her in the eyes. "You can't do this now. You said if I disappeared you would at least have had two weeks with me."

"I know," she tried to talk but Alec didn't let her.

"No, Liz. We're about to start something that I might not live through." Alec paused, thinking. "Maybe we shouldn't have started this"

"No!" She grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving the bed. "Alec, no! I meant that, I really did. If two weeks is all I have then fine, I want them. But you can't honestly expect me to not be affected by what happens to you." She tried to catch his eyes but he wouldn't look at her. "Alec."

He sighed, giving in. "Liz..."

She shook her head and threw her arms around him, hugging him. "I'll be okay," she whispered, holding onto him.

TBC

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Please review!


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: I know it's been like eight months or something. I'm incredibly sorry about that. I'll try to make the wait way shorter this time.

Thanks to my beta, Itay, as always. And the song is 'You Dance' by Eastmountainsouth. Enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 9**

Kyle heard his phone through the closed bathroom door and hurried to finish up.

"Kyle, phone!" Alex yelled at him.

"Coming!" Kyle shouted back. "Pick it up, will ya?"

He heard Alex greeting whoever was on the line.

"Hey, he'll be just a moment... Sure." Alex looked up when he heard the door. "OK, here he is now," he told the other person and handed the phone to Kyle, mouthing 'Your dad'.

Kyle took the phone and checked the screen. It was their home number, not the cell. "Hey, dad, is everything okay?"

_"Yeah, it's fine. How are things going with you? I haven't heard from you in a couple of days."_

"I know, things got out of hand yesterday and we were all wiped out. I was going to call today."

_"What happened?"_ Jim asked, concerned.

"We went to the dupes' crib and found the fourth orb and then Rath and Lonnie showed up. Michael had to blow them up-"

_"Kyle!"_ Jim cut him off. _"Watch what you're saying!"_

"Oh, sorry, dad. I forgot to tell you. Alec and CeCe cooked up some kind of encryption program for our cells. They're now untraceable and encrypted and hell knows what else. We can speak freely now."

Jim kept silent for a moment. _"Wow, that's some hi-tech stuff... But my phone doesn't have any of those things."_

"I know, CeCe explained it. Apparently, my cell gives off some kind of weird signal that does something to the line no matter who I'm talking to. I didn't understand one iota but she said it's safe for me to talk."

_"That'll help. I was trying to figure out a safe way to tell you that Ava showed up yesterday. She said she fell the Granolith going off and came to see what was going on. She couldn't find any of you so she came to me. Apparently Liz told her she could trust me if she needed anything."_

"Ava is there!" Kyle exclaimed causing the other two in the room to look at him surprised.

"What?" Max asked, walking towards Kyle.

"Wait, dad, Max is here and wants to talk to you."

_"Sure, son. But I want to talk to you before hanging up."_

"Yeah, okay." Kyle gave the phone to Max.

"Jim? What's going on?"

_"Everything is fine, Max. Ava came to town last night. She's been keeping a low profile. I don't think anyone's seen her. I found her in my backyard this morning."_

"So nothing's wrong? She's not in trouble or anything?"

_"No, no. She said she was somewhere in Oregon when she felt the Granolith's energy... Is that even possible, Max? Oregon is a hell of a long way from here,"_ Jim asked. _"Is not that I don't believe her..."_ he trailed off.

"I know, Jim. I don't know either, but they have always been different from us, they've been in touch with their alien side since the moment they hatched. Their powers and awareness have always been better than ours."

_"Anyway, she's taking a shower now. I wanted to tell you guys and see what you want me to do."_

"I'd like to talk to her first," Max commented, thinking through the possibilities.

_"Let me see if she's done."_

Max waited. He hadn't thought much about Ava. For one thing, the thought of the other 'queen' always took him back to Tess and she was something Max didn't like to dwell on. He still punished himself for not seeing through her act. He'd played right into her hands. He felt so stupid... and furious. He was still raging mad at her for everything she'd done. For all she had cost all of them.

And he'd never felt threatened by Ava so he didn't worry too much about her. He had planned to look her up, of course, but it could wait. It looked like she had saved him the trouble.

_"Max?"_ Her voice startled him.

"Ava, are you okay?" he asked her, first things first.

_"I'm good. I've been drifting around for months, hiding from Rath and Lonnie, ya know?"_

Max hesitated, not sure how Ava would take the news. "Mmmm... You don't have to worry about that... er... we-"

_"I know, Max,"_ she cut him off. _"They's dead."_

"You know? How?"

_"Same way I knew there was no hope for Zan when Rath pushed him under that truck, I felt it. I felt them... Maybe I should say I didn't feel them anymore."_

Max didn't know what to say. He'd never felt Michael and Isabel like that... or had he? Maybe he did feel them and he just didn't know because he'd never felt their absence.

_"It was you, wasn't it? You killed them."_ Ava said, taking Max's silence as guilt.

But Max didn't really feel guilty about their deaths, the same way he didn't feel guilty about Tess's fate once she reached Antar... Maybe she was already there?

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ava again. _"Max?"_

"Yeah," he answered her previous question. "Yeah, it was us. We killed them." There was no remorse in his voice. "They attacked us and we defended ourselves."

Ava smirked, maybe he was learning after all. _"Good. One less thing to worry about."_

"So... You say you felt the Granolith from Oregon?" he asked, going back to the topic that mattered.

_"Yeah, it was weird... I didn't really know what it was, ya know. Just that something big, something Antarian, had produced a hell of a burst. The Granolith was the only explanation I could find and I thought I better come check it out."_

"In Roswell? What made you think the Granolith was in Roswell?"

Ava rolled her eyes. _"I don't know where it is, Max. I just know you have it."_

"I never said-"

_"You have it. Even if you didn't know where it is, you'd still have it,"_ Ava stated confidently.

Max nodded, he had no real reason to hide it from Ava anyway. "So you came looking for us then."

_"Yeah, I thought I'd check."_

"And now that you have? What are your plans?" Max asked, not sure how to proceed. "Did Jim explain where we are and what we're doing?"

_"Part of it. Said you've gone hunting for Antar... Bad news if you ask me. You should stay as far away as possible from all of it."_

Max frowned. He didn't know what he was supposed to do about Antar yet and he wasn't ready to think about it. One thing at a time. Ava was still talking.

_"And anyway, not much you can do about it now that your 'Ava' left with the ship you had... At least that's what the Sheriff said,"_ she went on.

"We'll worry about that later, Ava."

_"Right, so I know there's something else going on but he didn't say."_

"So what will you do? You could wait for us there. I'm sure we could arrange something for you. We'll only be a few days, I think."

_"I don't know..."_ she started but then she thought better of it, _"Maybe, it's not like I have somewhere I have to be. Now that I don't have to worry about Rath and Lonnie I could just lay back and think what I want, I guess."_

She sounded hesitant, as if she was waiting for a push in any direction. So Max gave it to her.

"Stay, Ava. I'm sure Liz will want to see you."

Ava smiled. _"How's the cornball?"_

"Good, we're all good. We'll see you when we get back and we can talk about what you want for yourself, okay?"

_"Sure, Max... Thanks."_

"No problem. Can I speak to Jim for a moment?"

_"Sure thing."_ Max could hear her call for Jim. "Yo, he wants to talk to ya!"

Max smiled, he'd debated whether to offer her a place to stay or not, thinking that seeing her everyday -Tess's face, Tess's voice- might be too much for him. But Ava was Ava; she wouldn't let you see anyone other than herself when you looked at her.

_"Max?_

"Jim, Ava's going to stay, at least until we get back. Can you take her to Michael's and help her settle? We'll be home in about a week, two tops."

_"Sure, Max... She could stay here, you know, I don't mind..."_ Jim offered while Max could hear some indecision in his voice and thought it better to stick to his original idea.

"No, Jim. Michael's will be fine. We'll let you know if anything happens. How's everyone?"

_"We're all good, don't worry. I've started to hear the typical 'I hope they'll come back soon' comment from the ladies, you know, but other than that..."_ Jim trailed off.

Max knew the Sheriff wanted them home as much as the rest of the parents. He gave a small smile. "Soon, Jim. For better or worse it won't be much longer now."

Jim heard the twinge of apprehension underlying the usual worry in Max's voice. _"Is it their turn already then?"_

Max hesitated for a second before answering. "Yeah. We're leaving New York in a little while. There's only one stop left before we go home."

Jim bit his tongue on the urge to order them to come home immediately. It really wasn't his place, not with these kids who'd been through so much in their sort lives and had such a huge responsibility on their shoulders. There was very little he could do in fact, except... _"I'm here, Max. Remember that. Always. If you need anything..."_

"I know. Thank you, Jim," Max told him, incredibly grateful to be able to count on the Sheriff. "Do you want to talk to Kyle again?"

_"Yeah, thanks."_ Jim waited on the line, a knot of anxiety and worry growing in his stomach.

"Hey, dad."

_"Kyle,"_ the Sheriff managed to get out over the lump in his throat. Everything seemed too real all of a sudden. _"Kyle, are you sure about this? I mean, you could just come home... all of you..."_

Kyle felt that tingle of trepidation he'd been getting more and more often the last few says. This was different. In all their encounters with enemies or shit they'd always mostly been reacting to the stuff that happened to them. They'd never sat down and planned an attack on someone. But Kyle wasn't going to turn his back on his friends, neither the new nor the old, it just wasn't happening.

"Dad, I'll just be outside, covering them. I'm driving. You don't have to worry."

_"Right, like that's possible. You're asking me to ignore the fact that my only son is about to go up against the military forces of the USA. Get real, Kyle, I worry about you when you go camping in Frazier Woods,"_ Jim said.

Kyle chuckled. "I know. I wish you could be here for this, dad."

Jim tried to lighten the mood. _"Are you trying to say that you miss your old man?"_

"Nah, you just have your uses," Kyle joked.

_"Okay, let's talk about less serious things for a while, what do you say?"_

"Fine by me, like what?"

_"I don't know... You put any fishes back into the lake lately?"_ Jim laughed.

Kyle chuckled also. "You dated any Ms. Young and Beautiful lately?"

_"Don't let Amy hear you say that,"_ Jim warned his son. _"She'll have your head."_

"I'm sure I can take care of myself. You just wait to see all the new tricks I can do. You'll miss the old days when the weirdest thing of the day was seeing me sitting on the floor and chanting..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three days later they had reached Wyoming and had set up camp ten miles from the secured perimeter of the base. They had decided that it would be better to be isolated in the middle of the mountains rather than staying in a nearby town seeing as they needed to get and 'fix' transportation and ammunition. They were also feeling the mounting tension and the freedom and privacy the mountain offered them was liberating.

Max looked around at his friends and family. They were all spread out over the small camp in groups, except Maxie who was standing alone before a huge tree trunk surrounded by all the weaponry she and Alec had collected in Washington. He put away the maps he'd been studying, again, and went to sit with her.

Maxie heard him walking up to her from behind. She knew it was Max from the way he walked. She recognized all of them now. "Careful where you step, Evans. I can't seem to remember where I put those land mines," she said without looking back and heard him freeze.

Max heard her chuckle and shook his head. "You got me," he admitted, sitting down to her right, trying not to disturb her system. "Do you even have land mines?"

"Nah, the explosives we got are a little more sophisticated than that. And not here," she added, seeing him looking wearily around.

Max watched her as she put the gun she'd been holding away and picking up the next one. He observed mystified the way she dismantled the gun, cleaned it methodically, assembled it again and test-fired it against a practice target she had placed across the clearing. Once she was satisfied with the weapon, she set it aside and went for the next one.

After five silent minutes Maxie finally asked, "What?" She found his penetrating gaze unsettling. He was looking at her as if he'd never seen her before.

Max looked up at her face startled. He'd been following the movements of her hands mesmerized. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's nothing, I just... I'm not used to guns and I'm definitely not used to seeing someone like you handling them like that."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she asked with a sardonic smile.

Max smiled self-consciously. He wasn't sure what he'd meant. "At least, you're not the big bad, right?" he settled for.

Maxie looked him up and down before aiming the gun to the area where the target's groin would be and firing without missing a beat. "I don't know, Evans, I can be bad..." She turned again and winked at him, "I can be the naughtiest girl in the playground."

Max looked at her wide eyed, after a brief moment of shock he noticed the twitching lips and twinkling eyes and they both burst out laughing.

When all the guns had been checked and put away for safe-keeping, Maxie looked at all the weaponry they had accumulated and grimaced. Max noticed and frowned, what was that about?

Seeing his look Maxie sighed, "Shocking, huh? That I don't really like guns. At all. Who would've thought!"

"But you've been using them all along," Max observed perplexed.

"Not really," Maxie corrected him. "I've only really been around them when we got them and today because we needed to do inventory and the others were busy," she explained. "Don't get me wrong, I know my way around all types of guns. I'm a perfect shot. I've been trained in the use of them since I was big enough to hold one. But I haven't used one since I escaped."

Max looked pointedly around. Maxie followed his gaze and shrugged. "This is different," she said simply. "I haven't needed to fire a gun in all the years I've spent on the run. I'm all the weapon I need to take care of myself. Manticore is another story. I feel no remorse for using weapons on them. They made me what I am. Now they're getting what they deserve."

Max couldn't help the shiver that went through him when he heard the hate in her voice. But at the same time he was relieved to hear that she wasn't fond of guns. He wasn't a big fan of them himself and he wasn't comfortable around them. "So, normally you don't..."

"I don't do guns, Evans. I'm dangerous enough without them anyway," she confided conspiratorially.

Max looked at Biggs and CeCe, working on the other side of the camp, they were both carrying small handguns in their holsters. Biggs, CeCe and Alec had been carrying weapons all those weeks ago when they appeared in their lives; from then till the moment they got here the guns had been absent, or at least Max hadn't seen them, but the moment they got to Gillette they had started carrying the holsters at all times.

Max noticed that Maxie didn't carry a gun with her at all times.

Maxie seemed to read his mind. "They're more used to them, they feel comfortable around them. That doesn't mean they go around killing people for fun or anything. You know that, Evans. It's just that they're soldiers in enemy territory, a gun is a must for them now."

Max felt a little bit shameful. "I didn't mean anything by-"

"I know, it's okay. I don't like much the sight of them armed either. But they do what they feel it's best for all of us, you know. They'll do whatever's necessary to guarantee your safety."

Silence fell between them, but they didn't feel uncomfortable. Maxie was the one he got along with the best. Maybe because he'd seen inside her mind or maybe because Biggs and CeCe were too involved with each other of late and Alec was just not an option. But whatever the reason, Max felt at ease with the dark haired hellcat. And she seemed to enjoy teasing him, or maybe she was out right laughing at him half the time. He didn't really mind.

"So... you're used to being on your own, then. 'All the weapon you need', and all that..." he joked.

"Yeah, it's been just me for a long time. But I kinda like having them around, you know, someone to watch my back and make sure I make it out of a tight spot... and let's face it, everything's just more fun when I have someone to marvel at human's stupidity with," she drawled.

"Like..."

"Oh, I don't know. People are just plain stupid. Like this guy, some big time businessman, loaded, more like filthy rich. I think the city had named a street after him or something like that. So I get inside his mansion, make it all the way into his office, break into his state of the art vault and you know what he keeps inside?" she asked.

"What?" Max asked chuckling at her face.

"A porn collection," Maxie exclaimed disgusted. "Granted, it was a hell of a collection but still, it's just porn, for chrisakes!" she exploded. "And you know where the good stuff was? The jewels were in a drawer in a file cabinet, not even locked! And the fool had his computer on and logged into his bank account. Just like that, can you say moron? It was as if he was asking me to rob him blind!"

Max was laughing out loud by now and the self righteousness in her face only made him laugh harder.

"So I did," she said, obviously proud of herself. "I took every last penny from his bank, all his jewellery... and his porn."

"You didn't!" Max exclaimed, still laughing.

"You bet your ass I did, he so needed the wake up call."

Max shook his head, amazed. "Man, I would've loved to see his face when he found out you took his porn."

"Tell me about it. I've had some really weird experiences but that one always makes me laugh."

"If Michael hears you he'll make you take me with you... Loosen up a bit," Max confessed.

Maxie looked him up and down and then shrugged. "That can be arranged."

Max just shook his head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex nudged Michael and nodded towards the girls. Maria and Isabel were trying to fit one of the two poles that would hold the cribs in place on the upper side. Wearing shorts and thin strapped tops, with their hair in messy ponytails and their skin glowing in the sun with perspiration. They looked like a wet dream waiting to happen.

Michael smirked at Alex and patted him on the back. "Just don't let Max see you ogling his sister like that, buddy."

"Are you crazy? I like 'all' my limbs where they are, thank you."

Michael chuckled and the girls turned to look at them.

"What's so funny, Michael?" Isabel asked, wiping her forehead and grimacing in distaste. Catching her reflection in the back window she waved her hand over her head and down her body and her hair rearranged into a neat bun and her skin and clothes dried up.

"Hey! Not fair, I'm all sticky too," Maria complained.

Michael stopped Isabel's hand mid-air and caught Maria in his arms. "Now, now, blondie, if she gets rid of this sexy glow what excuse will we have later to go skinny dipping in that river, huh?"

Maria deliberated her answer for all of two seconds before sneaking out of his embrace and coming to stand before Isabel. Waving at her to go ahead, Maria spoke to Michael over her shoulder. "We'll just have to find another way to get me all sweaty again then," she whispered sultrily.

"Eww! I'm right here, you know!" Isabel let her hand fall and stepped back, pretending to shudder. "And it's your turn now, we've been doing all the work here!"

"Izzy, you've put two poles in place, that's hardly _all_ the work," Michael corrected her.

Alex studied the drawings Biggs had given them of what they needed done to the vans. After much deliberating on the issue, they had decided to acquire two vans and a broken up bus and fix them to accommodate the babies and toddlers. The bus was already fixed.

The two vans were of considerable size when they got them but after a few touches here and there they were now big enough to fit two rows of twelve carrycot-like containers on each side and two more on the partition wall separating the cabin from the back. The hundred 'cribs' were lying next to the vans waiting to be fitted into place. But first they'd had to 'build' the structure to fit them into.

It sounded a lot harder than it really was. One of the humans held the pole in place and one of the aliens welded it to the van with a wave of their hands. Not exactly slave labour, really, Isabel just liked to complain.

"Okay, so the skeleton's ready, let's see how these things are gonna work," Alex said picking one crib up.

The two boys took over the next part while Maria and Isabel directed them from the nearest shadow. "To the right, Alex," Maria ordered him. "Not so much! Just a little bit to the left now... There, perfect!"

"Maria, we're not building a space rocket, OK? We can manage perfectly fine," Michael told her. "It's not like I don't have eyes," he added under his breath to Alex.

Alex laughed indulgently, "They just like to feel in charge."

"I don't mind her being in charge," Michael said innocently. "But not while I'm working."

"Man, come on, Maria's like a sister to me! Stop the suggestive comments already," Alex groaned.

"Hey, pal, I didn't say a word. You take your mind out of the gutter."

"I'm a guy, Michael, my mind lives in the gutter."

"What are you two whispering about?"

Alex and Michael jumped and turned to see Isabel standing right behind them. "Nothing!" they exclaimed in unison.

Isabel looked back at Maria with a knowing look. "Yep, you're right. They were talking about sex."

"Told you," Maria replied smartly.

"We were not!" Alex tried to deny.

"Oh, sweetie, you're a really bad liar," Isabel laughed.

"What! I'm not!" he protested.

Maria walked back to them and pointed at Alex's ears. "There's no point trying to deny it, Alex, your ears get all red when you're lying."

Alex gaped and covered his ears, ignoring his friends' laughter. "They do not," he spluttered even though he could feel how hot his ears were.

The girls were still laughing when they went back to their shadow-y seats and with Alex trying to pretend he didn't exist, hiding in the front side of the van, Michael went about finishing up the first van.

Fifteen minutes later Isabel came back, carrying refreshments, and found Michael humming. She almost dropped the glasses from the shock. "Michael, are you singing!" she exclaimed, enjoying the faint flush that covered his cheeks.

"I'm not!" he said quickly, but Isabel just nodded knowingly. "I wasn't," he insisted. "I was humming," he clarified. "There's a difference."

"Yeah, besides, it was Metallica," Alex came to his defence, "it's not like you caught him singing Sarah McLachlan or anything girlie like that."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Metallica, Michael?" Maria asked, smiling fondly at her boyfriend and putting an arm around his waist. "You're obsessed."

"It relaxes me," Michael said shrugging.

Alex shook his head, "And _that_ makes me nervous."

"I'm with him on that one," Maria muttered.

"Are you nervous?" Alex asked Michael. When he just shook his head, he pressed on. "You're not!"

Unconsciously, Maria hugged him tighter. The truth was that, in spite of the fact that she wouldn't even go near the base and that the transgenics had told them time and again that they had everything under control, Maria was scared out of her mind. The closer 'it' got, the more panicked she felt.

"No," Michael said simply. "I don't know, I guess they made me that way."

"Well, that makes sense, I guess. No use for a general that gets scared before the battle," Alex mused.

"Can I get a fix of your blood?" Maria asked, only half joking.

Michael shook his head thoughtfully. "I can give you a fix of something else, though," he offered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Alex turned to Isabel, "Can I have a fix of that, too?"

Isabel sighed exaggeratedly, "Again?" she asked mock-complaining.

Alex gave Michael a confused look. "Is there a point when it's enough?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Liz smiled, watching her friends from where she was sitting under a tree with Alec lying down beside her. He had his eyes closed but she knew he wasn't sleeping. Lying on his back, with his arms crossed under his head, Alec looked like the perfect picture of relaxation, not a single worry on his mind. Liz rolled her eyes at herself, she knew that wasn't exactly true, but Alec had explained the wonders of compartmentalization to her and how he'd come to realise that the only way to live, for them, was to do so in the here and now.

Liz herself had come to treasure these small breathing moments between crises. The last two years had been a rollercoaster of fear, excitement and a thousand other emotions, anguish and pain amongst them. But looking back now, there have been moments of peace that made everything worth it. With everything she had lost and sacrificed, she had also gained a great deal. _Like Alec,_ she thought, a silly smile on her face.

She let herself study him. It was one of her favourite pastimes these days, watching him. It didn't matter what he was doing, moving or lying still, Alec radiated energy. Liz could spend hours marvelling at the grace and ease of his body. And the beauty, don't forget the beauty. Perfect built, smooth and unblemished skin, drop-dead gorgeous features... Focusing her gaze on his lips, Liz felt her own tingle and, as if knowing where her thoughts had wandered exactly, Alec let out a tempting smirk. Damn, he didn't even have to look at her or anything. One smirk and Liz wanted to melt.

Thank God he hadn't opened his eyes or she would've thrown herself at him. If his lips made her knees go weak, his eyes could turn her into a mush of goo. No one had ever looked at her with such intensity, passion, lust... He had really expressive eyes.

Yep, she could spend hours just watching him do absolutely nothing. But she loved it even more when he was moving. The other day she had seen him spar with Biggs and Maxie. Apparently they were showing her some of the more advanced stuff she had missed out on throughout the years. The fluidity of movement, slow enough for her to see precisely because they were showing Maxie how to do it, had left her breathless. It looked more like a choreographed dance than a fight. The play of his muscles bunching and releasing with every precise movement had fascinated her. And of course, the cocky smirk whenever he got the best of Biggs, or Maxie. So Alec.

She finally understood Maria's vibrator theory. Alec always had an intense aura of vibrant energy surrounding him and it was contagious. When she was with him she felt like she could take on the world.

It was when he wasn't there that she couldn't help feeling the anxiety and the fear for what was to come. _But I have to be strong, I can't let him see me break down. He doesn't need that,_ Liz told herself.

Liz reached out to him, running her fingers through his hair and over his face and over his peaceful face, drawing out a sweet smile from him. He loved it when she touched him, just butterfly caresses anywhere, arms, wrists, neck, scalp, face. And of course, she liked touching him just as much. His warm skin and soft hair, and how relaxed and comfortable he was with her touch always made her feel whole, at peace with herself. _So, no tears, no sappy goodbyes, no clinging to his neck and never wanting to let go,_ she instructed herself, biting her lower lip to stop it from trembling.

Almost as if feeling her sudden bout of doubt and fear, Alec opened his eyes and locked gazes with her. Just one look and Liz felt the worry easing up. Moving one arm from behind his head, Alec tugged softly on Liz's hair and she leaned down, smiling. Alec reached up and met her halfway, kissing her sweetly.

Liz felt a wave of confidence wash over her, pushing al her trepidation away. Suddenly, she was sure that everything was going to be okay. Alec kissed her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks and jaw before going back to her lips for another deeper taste, his thumb caressing the skin right below her earlobe. She wasn't sure if she was tapping into his own certainty or if just his presence was enough to make her feel this way, but Liz wasn't scared anymore.

_I won't face another day  
I won't wait until tomorrow  
I won't spend another night  
without you_

Alec let her lips go and just breathed her in for an instant before he lay back down and smiled at her. Liz, still in a daze from his kiss, barely managed to smile back.

_Let me carry you away  
Let me wake you every morning  
Let me wander every day  
Beside you_

Seeing the satisfied look on his face at the obvious effect he had on her, Liz smacked him playfully and decided to distract him before he could make any smart-ass comment.

"Is there anything you should be doing?" she asked him.

"What do you mean?" he asked but his eyes told her he knew what she was doing and he was letting her get away with it.

She ignored his look, "I meant if you have any kind of ritual before going on a mission," she clarified.

Alec shrugged. "That's basically human superstition. We weren't raised to believe in luck or any kind of 'extra' help. Failure just wasn't an option," he explained.

Liz's look of sympathy -not pity, never pity with Alec, she knew it was something he didn't accept- made him want to put that dazed smile back on her face. Grabbing her around the waist he pulled her down to lay half beside him, half on top of his body. Liz squealed in surprise when she found herself facing Alec's chest. Throwing an arm over him, she dragged herself up his body to lean down over his face, her hair falling down and hiding them away. She saw the mischievous glint in his eyes and couldn't resist getting another taste of him.

_'Cause you dance in my head,  
in my heart,  
in my everything,  
'cause you belong_

"This isn't such a bad ritual, don't you think?" he asked, their lips a breath away, their eyes still closed. He felt her lips curve into a smile, he could see her in his mind, even with his eyes closed. _Beautiful._

"Not bad at all," Liz whispered back.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The time had finally come. Night had fallen two hours ago and the darkness was almost complete. The new moon and the stars barely showing through the clouds. They were almost ready .

Looking around, Biggs's eyes fell on CeCe methodically stocking the trunk of the now plate-less SUV with their weapons. He felt torn between wanting her on the field, watching his back the way she'd always done, and wanting her safe, back in the camp. Protecting their baby. It was so new he still didn't know how to handle everything that had changed in the blink of an eye.

Walking towards her, he felt his chest constrict with emotion. Not only worry about her and the baby, also the friendship and camaraderie they'd always shared, and the newly accepted love that her heat had forced him to deal with.

Feeling his eyes on her, CeCe looked up from her task and watched him close the distance between them. Biggs stopped before her and she put her arms around his neck, leaning on him. Biggs returned the embrace, hugging her waist.

"You'll be careful, won't you?" he spoke softly.

CeCe felt like rolling her eyes but she understood his anxiety perfectly so she just kissed him and nodded.

"I know you can-"

"I know, Biggs," she interrupted him. "And I will."

Biggs nodded thoughtfully, still struggling with his own emotions.

"Everything will be okay," she insisted. "We'll both be fine."

Biggs just hugged her fiercely, nestling his face in her neck and imprinting her new scent in his mind. Then he chuckled.

CeCe leaned back to see his face and caught him rolling his eyes. "What?" she asked confused.

"Look at me," he said simply. Smacking her ass, he exclaimed shocked. "What have you done to me, woman!"

CeCe snorted and pushed him away, going back to her task. Biggs watched her, smiling. _We'll all be okay,_ he told himself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alec kneeled behind a rock, looking at his surroundings. The place was exactly like he remembered it: oppressing. He could see Biggs to his right, trying to quell his urge to check on CeCe's position every two seconds. Alec felt for Biggs, he really did, but he knew they all had to focus on their tasks or this wouldn't work. Locking gazes with him, a look full of trust and history, Biggs nodded at Alec and they both went back to watching the perimeter guards.

Alec counted his lucky stars that all they had to deal with was ordinary soldiers. Things wouldn't go as smoothly as he was hoping they would if they'd had to tangle with the hive-minded X7s he was about to prevent from existing.

Pushing away the thought of all those he was negating their very existence to, like Dalton, and Bugler and Zero, Fixit, Ralph and so many others, Alec's confidence in his mission faltered. _Is it really fair to do this?_

The phantom pain of countless hours in Psy-Ops and Re-Indoctrination washed over him. _You're just selfish, trying to save yourself the pain,_ a small voice taunted him.

But it hadn't been only him. Maybe he'd had it worse than some because of Ben, but he certainly had had company in hell. All of them had suffered at the cruel hands of Manticore.

_This is the right thing to do,_ he thought determinedly, silencing any remaining doubts in his mind. The time for doubts had passed, anyway.

Maxie had been watching intently the spot on the guard's path that would put the mission in motion. Her heart was pounding heavily, almost jumping out of her throat, or some other annoying place where it shouldn't be. Excitement and anxiety warred in her. A brief smile made it to her lips, remembering Biggs's words just before deploying.

"So... how are those adrenalin levels doing?" he'd asked nonchalantly. " 'Coz I feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin or something..."

Alec had chuckled then, the truth was that they'd all being feeling strangely unsettled for the experienced soldiers they were. "Everything's going to be okay, guys. We're going to go in there and kick their asses, because that's what they designed us to do... So, let's do it."

It had made her feel better to know that she wasn't the only one feeling like this and suddenly that warm feeling in the pit of the stomach that she hadn't felt since separating from her siblings was back. She was surrounded by family again. She glanced briefly at Alec. And soon she'd had her siblings with her again. More or less. _Right, time to focus._

Alec saw the guard walk over the mark they'd appointed as their 'go'. Moving silently through the forest, he felt the others advance. Only the transgenics for now. Evans and Michael would keep their positions until the perimeter was secure.

Stepping into the clear that surrounded the fence, Alec blurred the short distance and jumped over the electrified barrier, landing right behind one of the guards.

The limitary garbed soldier didn't have time to register the presence behind him before taking a hit on the back, right to the heart. Alec caught him on his way down and set him silently on the ground.

The reckon they'd done the last three nights was perfectly accurate and he looked around to see other three guards go down at the hands of his friends. Starting south he followed the fence, Biggs was moving north and Maxie went forward into Manticore grounds, going after the ten soldiers that patrolled the inside forest. CeCe went straight to the control room.

Twenty minutes later the three of them rendezvoused at the starting point where Alec had first landed. Biggs signalled Michael with a flashlight. Two shorts, one long, one short. The answering lights preceded the appearance of the two aliens through the tree line. Sprinting towards the fence, Michael waved his hand over it, dissolving it into thin air, and a hole big enough for both of them to go through without risk of touching it appeared. Once inside, he waved his hand again, restoring the fence. It had taken less than a minute and by the time the camera sweeping the fence passed over the area two minutes later they were all gone and there was no trace of anyone having ever been there. Of course, there was no trace of the guards either but the soldiers manning the security cameras had been watching the game before CeCe took them out anyway. Tsk, tsk.

The group of five made their way into the facility. Maxie separated from them and went to join CeCe in the control room. There they were going to send the scientific data to an outside server they'd prepared for that exact reason. The fact that they were going to get rid of this place and all the bastards involved with the project didn't mean that they were willing to destroy all the information they held. After all it was 'them' in those computers. The genetic database on all existing transgenics was priceless, especially if you took into consideration that they were going to raise a colourful bunch of genetic experiments. Every small bit of data could save lives in the future. Their lives.

Alec signalled to Evans and Michael to stay behind them and then nodded to Biggs the 'go ahead'. Heading straight for the soldier's barracks, the four of them made quick work of the sleeping soldiers. They never even woke up. The brass was next.

The bigger quarters set aside for the few officials on site were on the first floor on that same building.

"Go ahead and start setting up the charges, Biggs," Alec whispered. "I'll finish here."

Biggs knew why Alec wanted to be the one to go after the big brass. They'd never even discussed it. Biggs and CeCe just accepted he'd take on that task. Nodding at Alec he took the two aliens with him and started for the first location, the DNA lab. The generators and control room were next. Michael carried the explosives and Max the detonators. Biggs would be the one arming the bombs.

Alec watched them leave and then move silently for the stairs. The first room had been empty. The second was the quarters of Sgt. Nicholls and the Texan soldier laid sleeping on his back, one leg hanging off the bed and one arm thrown over the side, taking up the whole bed, the other one resting on his chest. Sleeping the sleep of the dead. No remorse or guilt to trouble his rest. Alec wasted no time in shooting and moving on.

The last room had a light on. There were reports on the bedside table and a glass that had contained a good malt, if Alec's nose didn't fail him. The room was tidy, military style. Everything in its place, including the man sleeping on the double bed.

He was younger than Alec remembered him, of curse. Thinner; his body, covered only by a summer sheet over his hips, still maintained part of his active days tone. But his hair was starting to thin out already, no wonder he got into the habit of shaving his head.

Lieutenant Walter Sandoval had plagued Alec's nightmares as often as Lydecker did, especially since he'd remembered Rachel Berrisford. Watching him now, his face stern even when not conscious, Alec felt a cold fist clench his heart. This man would not cause Rachel's death, not through Alec's own hand, not in any other way.

Taking the gun from his shoulder holster, Alec aimed straight for the hated man. He wanted him awake for this. Sandoval wouldn't recognise him, of course, but Alec wanted to see the realization of his own mortality in his eyes. He cocked the gun, the noise abnormally loud in the deadly quiet, and Sandoval sprang, sitting up in bed, his eyes going to the unknown man in his room holding a gun aimed at him. Before the thought of calling for help had even entered his mind he found himself staring at the ceiling, his vision blurring. Two seconds later, darkness. He never heard the shot.

Alec wasted two seconds watching the slump man on the bed with contempt before turning his back on him and leaving the room.

He met up with Biggs and the other two outside the training building.

"Only the control room left," Biggs reported.

Alec nodded, checking his watch. Right on time. "Okay, let's go."

The group reunited in the control room. CeCe was busy on the main computer while Maxie kept an eye on the security cameras. The central monitor was on a rotation pattern and at the moment the camera on the Xs' barracks was on display.

"Wow," Evans exclaimed.

Rows of beds, not cradles, filled the room. The sleeping babies, those that were asleep, made no sound at all. One of the older X5s was out of his bed, just walking between the rows, checking on the younger ones. On the back wall of the barrack there was a huge bay window with a two way mirror. All the young X5s saw was themselves, but their older counterparts watching the monitors could see the nurses' station that overlooked the barracks. Two nurses were there at the moment.

"Remember how we used to eavesdrop on their chatty gossip? I really think they underestimated us from the word 'go'," Biggs commented.

Alec snorted, silently agreeing with him, but his eyes never left the screen were the downloading process was reflected. 35 and counting. Manticore's was a huge mainframe, years of experimentation, failures and successes made for a whole lot of data.

His eyes fixed on the screen, Alec felt the hairs on his nape stand on end. "Wow, look at that," he said softly and the whole group clustered around the monitor, focused on the images showing. Silently watching the data on the computer, Biggs couldn't help the smirk or the flippant comment, "They won't know what hit th-"

"FREEZE!" a voice shouted from behind them followed by the sounds of guns being cocked. Lots of them.

TBC

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Please review


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry it took so long. Believe it or not, I have a new chapter. My usual beta is MIA so this part may have a lot more typos than the previous ones. Also, there's only one more chapter left, YAY! 

**Chapter 10**

Colonel Donald Lydecker marched down Manticore's corridors like a man on a mission. His eyes narrowed into a cutting glare that no-one dared to meet. More than three quarters of his on-duty staff had been caught with their pants around their ankles and the colonel planned on making sure it never happened again.

Mixed with that fury and determination he couldn't help the flash of bewilderment. _How had this happened?_ The question kept echoing in his mind even while he was busy barking orders to the limited soldiers at his disposal right then. At the end of the corridor he could see the window bay that looked into the cell holding the intruders. Four men and two women. The closer he got the more stern his face got. _They're practically children,_ he realized.

He stood behind the two-way mirror and observed the group.

From right to left, strapped to metal chairs, a black haired, Caucasian male who seemed to be fighting a smile. Next to him was a dark female, black hair, olive skin, dark eyes...

Lydecker had a flash of recognition, as if he'd seen her before. Shaking his head, he moved on.

On the third chair lounged a Caucasian male with dark blond hair and hazel-green eyes that seemed to laugh at him and challenge him at the same time. Eyes that seemed to know more than they should.

Next to him there was yet another Caucasian male with too long brown hair and a scowl on his face. He was discreetly checking the metal restraints on both arms and legs. A comment from the guy to the right had him rolling his eyes and the black-haired prisoner on the far right chuckling. The next prisoner, a slim blonde girl with a delicate face, snorted loudly.

Looking at them, the only one who looked worried at all was the last prisoner. Dark haired and serious looking, he hadn't been paying attention to the rest of them and he appeared to be lost in thought.

Raking his eyes over all of them again, Lydecker couldn't help the feeling that he was missing something. Something very important. It wasn't a feeling he particularly enjoyed. Actually, he down-right hated it. It made his grasp on control tenuous. Clenching his fists, he was startled when the initial report he'd been holding in his hand crunched between his fingers. The distraction snapped him from his angry thoughts. He gave the group a last glare before heading for his office.

The slam of the door shutting reverberated pleasantly in the office. Lydecker sat at his desk and opened the report. The first listed number was the weirdest.

**Casualties: zero.**

They hadn't killed anyone. Six... kids... had almost succeeded in taking over his base and they had done so without taking a single life. Not that Lydecker particularly cared one way or another. It was just another thing that didn't add up.

The perimeter guards had been found knocked out at equal intervals which meant they'd been hit at the same time. _I knew four perimeter guards wasn't enough. Cheap Washington bastards._

The sentries in the forest had also been taken out. The fact that it had only been five minutes from the moment the cameras had gotten the first glimpse of the intruders right outside the fence to the moment their video had gone down, and the apparent lack of a forced entry, made Lydecker suspect that someone from the inside had given them the Intel necessary to get in. Probably even helped them from the control room tonight.

He pressed the intercom on his desk. "Is the unit sweeping the forest back yet?"

_"Yes, sir,"_ came the reply from the soldier outside his office.

"Lockdown procedure from this moment, then." Lydecker paused before giving the next order. It would be the rock on the pond. Once he took the next step there would be no keeping this under wraps. He glanced at the six mug-shots on his desk. "Call everyone in. Every. Last. One."

_"Yes, sir."_

Lydecker went back to reading the report. The cameras had gone down and all the soldiers stationed at his base had been shot with a drug that still had half of them out. It didn't make any sense. Why not kill them? Obviously they hadn't expected them to survive their assault if they considered the amount of explosives found on several key locations around his base. Nothing much would have survived the blast of those so why in the hell would they waste so much perfectly good drug in such a pointless exercise?

But more important yet, how had they missed the secondary unit in the back entrance to the facility?

A team this prepared, and possibly with a mole inside, should have known there was a small back-up team on duty at all times. But, according to said unit's CO's report - the one he was currently reading - not one of the intruders had come near their position. Their security had gone off suddenly and they'd seen one of the operatives on their way to set the charges. They'd followed them back to the control room and, once they'd made sure there were no other intruders in the facility, they'd gone in.

Damn it, the whole thing stunk. It was time to get some answers.

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"Remember," Alec told the two teens when he heard Lydecker talking to the guard posted at the door. "Not a word. Let us do the talking."

Biggs met Michael's slightly nervous look. "And if things get physical-"

"For you two," Alec interrupted Biggs.

"-free yourselves, then CeCe and Alec, and then retreat to the corner. Leave the rest to us," he instructed.

The two aliens nodded, not sure they could talk even if they wanted.

"Ready?" CeCe asked, catching Max's eyes.

Before he could answer, the door opened and Lydecker entered the room. Alec studied the man, so familiar and so different at the same time. The stern face sported the familiar tense frown the Xs remembered so well but it wasn't weathered and old; this Lydecker was in his prime: strongly positioned as the head of a successful military experiment, with a promising career ahead of him. The difficulties would come in a few years when one of his precious units decided to run out on him, initiating a decade worth of chasing, covering up, fighting for his career and even his own life.

Lydecker looked every prisoner in the eyes. On the outside he was showing his power position as the man in charge in the room, the real reason was he needed to locate the most likely person to cave under interrogation. Prey chosen he stood in front of the last boy on the line.

"Wh-"

"Looking rather tense there, Deck," Alec interrupted him before he could get out the first word. "Problem?"

Lydecker turned to Alec, eyes shooting daggers. "What did you say?" he enunciated carefully, trying to contain his fury.

"I asked what the problem was... Deck?" Alec retaliated, imitating perfectly Lydecker's tone and diction.

The colonel walked back towards Alec and studied him more closely. He'd already come to the conclusion this was the leader of the team. Not only by his own attitude but also because the rest kept looking his way as imperceptibly as possible. Lydecker wasn't interested on him. Yet. He went back to the other prisoner.

"Who are you? Who sent you?" he demanded, as if the last two minutes hadn't happened.

Max tried to look unaffected; barely able to breathe, he was so nervous, he kept staring ahead, his gaze fixed on an imaginary spot on the opposite wall. He knew he wasn't supposed to say a word, and he was sure if he tried his voice would betray him, but the compulsion to answer the seasoned soldier was hard to fight.

He started making a mental list of all the things they'd found on their journey so far and what they needed to do next... when this was all over. Max wished with all his heart that it were over already, for him to be anywhere else on the planet... Hell, Antar was sounding really good right about now.

He could hear the others speaking but he didn't want to listen. He tuned out the colonel's questions and Alec's repeated interruptions. He thought he heard Biggs at some point, and he'd swear Maxie had jumped in at some point but he couldn't be sure. He was barely aware of the colonel's growing irritation and Alec's insolence increasing every time he spoke.

Lydecker had had enough. He gave up trying to get the boy to talk; he could see he wasn't going to get anything with only questions. He'd have to turn to more painful methods. But first, he obviously had someone dying to talk so they'd talk.

Alec could see he'd won this round the exact moment Lydecker turned his back on Evans and slowly walked towards him. He was proud of the kid, he'd resisted much better than he'd hoped for. Lydecker stood before him, not saying a word; obviously he had to decide on an approach that would work on a smart-ass like he'd portrayed himself to be. 'All right, then. Game on.'

_Fifteen minutes later..._

Lydecker sat down at his desk slowly, every movement a careful study on control. His blood, frozen in shock with Alec's words, had started boiling on the way to his office. How dare they defy him like that? This was his project! He had the last word on what happened to these soldiers. These were **his** kids. No matter what the Committee thought they could do, Lydecker was the lord and master of Manticore.

To think one, or more, of those monkeys had stolen his valuable data and sold it to someone else... The urge to break and smash things was almost overwhelming.

And what exactly was the purpose of this attack? Were they trying to eliminate the competition? And how was it possible to have Manticore technology in soldiers of that age? Had someone found a way to manipulate adult genes? Or maybe they'd found the way to accelerate the development of the specimens artificially.

All of that was secondary, though. First things first. He had to get every single person who had been involved in project Manticore to the base immediately. Donald Lydecker needed a name and that was the fastest way to get it. By now, whoever had sent those six 'soldiers' to his base with the intention of blowing it up had to know they'd failed. His mole would either not show, which would mean 'GUILTY' to Lydecker, or he'd come hoping Lydecker didn't know his identity.

That option was also okay with Lydecker, a good old-fashioned interrogation would show those idiots who was in charge. They could even get to see their advancements on interrogation techniques. His scientists had made vast improvements in the conditioning by laser area.

He made a mental list of what he needed to get everything ready. He checked his watch. Three forty-five A.M. Opening up his file on the Committee -- which he insisted on having updated every time any little detail changed -- he made sure all the members were currently in the country.

"Sergeant Echolls, get the Committee to meet here at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Make sure they know missing out is not an option but don't mention the attack," he instructed over his intercom.

_"Yes, sir."_

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Everyone's home, guys, Alex let Max know.

Max opened his eyes to find everyone looking at him.

"So?" Alec pressed. It had been a long night and he knew the trickiest part was still to come. He could be patient when he had to. He didn't have to like it, though.

"They're all in."

"Great!" Alec exclaimed enthusiastically. "Get moving then, Michael."

Michael opened his cuffs and leg restraints, Max doing the same, and went to work on Alec's.

"Tell them to wait twenty minutes before moving in. That'll give us time to neutralize the base... Again. And clear the way for them."

Max did as told while Michael finished setting the transgenics free and opening the holding cell. The soldier guarding their door spun around surprised but didn't have time to make a sound before Biggs knocked him out.

The group split in two. The holding cells were smack in the middle of the basement of the main building, according to the blueprints -- and their own experience being brought in. Each group took one half of the basement and went about the task of putting everyone to sleep. The two aliens took care of it. One hand on the door made a small window into the cell, and once in contact with the air inside they changed it into a powerful narcotic gas. Then the window was turned back into door. The whole thing was over in five seconds and whoever was inside, mostly transhumans with one or two soldiers lost in the middle, was out like a light.

While making plans, the next step had posed something of a problem. The basement wasn't equipped with surveillance. One camera at the bottom of the steps, the only way in or out. That was it. The main floor, though, was a different matter. Every corner of the base was covered which meant they had to neutralize them before they could be seen. Of course, even one camera going down when the whole base was still in uproar due to the little incursion would make the alarm go off.

That just wouldn't work for them.

Michael waved his arm over Biggs and changed his tactical gear into the average Manticore guard's outfit. CeCe took his hand and squeezed, the silent 'see you soon' their only exchange. Nodding to Alec, Biggs stepped into the camera's line of sight and started up the stairs.

"Five minutes to get to the control room, turn off the cameras and put the base in internal lockdown. Then we're on," Alec repeated the plan, more for the two teens' benefit than real need. They'd been holding up extremely well but a little reassurance never hurt.

"You okay to do every room upstairs like that?" Maxie asked them, nodding to the cells behind them.

"Yeah, it doesn't take much energy. We'll be fine," Max assured them.

Alec patted him on the back. "Good. Remember to stay with us at all times. Most of the personnel will be behind a locked door, wherever their posts were, but there'll be some on the corridors. We'll take care of them."

CeCe, who had been watching the cameras, spoke up. "They're off," she said, pointing to the camera on the basement and its red pilot off.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for the first 'What's going on?' to be heard around the base. Still, they were more curious than panicked; they were a military facility under investigation after all. An official lockdown wasn't out of the question.

Alec and CeCe went first, then Max and Michael, and Maxie took the rear. Biggs was staying in the control room to make sure no-one reversed the lockdown command. He'd turned down the cameras so that no recording of their activities was made, just in case, but he kept the exterior surveillance on to keep an eye on the arrival of the rest of their party.

By the time he caught sight of Kyle and Alex at the edge of the forest the facility was sleeping peacefully, just as Alec had said. Only one room hadn't been knocked out yet.

Biggs opened up the front door for them before leaving the control room and waiting for Alec and the others in the corridor.

Only moments later Alec and Michael turned the nearest corner and jogged up to Biggs. "Everything secure in there?"

"Yep. Do your thing," Biggs told Michael, who sealed the control room. "The others are just outside. We should get back to that meeting room."

The three of them went back the same way and joined Max, CeCe and Maxie. From behind the closed door they could hear the strong argument taking place inside. Angry shouts and accusations were being thrown around, but the transgenics noticed that Lydecker was silent.

Alec looked at Max and nodded, telling him to open the door. The echoing 'click' of the padlock moving caused a sudden silence on the other side. The door slid open and Alec entered the room as if he owned the place.

"Long time no see, Deck," he taunted the older man.

Biggs and Maxie had taken care of the two guys Lydecker had posted inside the room before they could even point their weapons at them.

The men sitting at the conference table were almost paralyzed. They all wore elegant suits, except a high-ranking officer with his chest full of medals, and they looked rather out of their element in a military facility 'under attack'. The picture fit more to a corporate meeting in the highest floor of some office building.

"Huh, Ava is gonna stand out like a sore thumb," Alec mused.

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'WYO17 743'

The car entered through the fortified gates and disappeared from sight when they clicked shut again. Liz lowered the binoculars and announced, "Lydecker's in."

The small group waiting in the campsite gathered in the center, the tension was palpable. They all had specific and important roles to play in the following hours and the wait was almost unbearable. Maria hadn't stopped fidgeting since Michael had disappeared into the woods last night. It had been only four hours and Liz couldn't wait for the whole thing to be over. Worry seemed to have made a home in their worlds and they couldn't shake it off.

The teens had been on edge from the moment the alarm had gone off. As expected, less than fifteen minutes later a small patrol had gone through the woods looking for any sign of back-up for the trespassers. Of course, Ava's mindwarp had taken care of them. Now, another hour later the reinforcements, the small unit not on duty and living in the nearest city had arrived and Lydecker had already gone in. If everything was going according to plan, Alec, Biggs, CeCe, Maxie, Michael and Max would be detained and awaiting Lydecker's orders. Alec had assured them the interrogations wouldn't go beyond 'who are you?' and 'who do you work for?' at this point. In the early years of Manticore nobody moved a finger without Lydecker's approval. But they'd also had a back-up plan in case anyone saw this as their chance to rise up through the chain and took matters into their own hands. The plan was to wait until the whole committee was inside to get loose and get control, but if things went sideways they wouldn't wait. Any and all info they needed to get everyone would be in Manticore's database anyway. It would take a little longer but the transgenics had insisted their security throughout the attack was their priority.

Liz heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Ava approaching. She moved aside in the rock she was sitting on and made room for the other girl.

"You okay, cornball?"

Liz shook her head. "You really need to find a new nickname for me, Ava. But yes, I am... Nervous," she confided. "I wish we were already back in Roswell and all of this was just a memory." Ava nodded but didn't say anything. Liz was glad for it and she smiled. "I'm glad the guys decided they could use your help and asked you to meet us here. It's good to have you close."

Ava smirked. "I missed you, too... Lizzie?" Both girls shook their heads at the same time. "Nah..."

All eyes went to Alex when he straightened on his seat. "They're still waiting. Lydecker just went in," he informed the rest. "Probably it won't be long 'til he takes action."

"Is Michael okay?" Maria asked. She'd been biting her tongue every time Alex had given them an update on their status but it had been hours and she couldn't help herself.

Alex smiled at her, he understood Maria's worry. He'd been so relieved when they explained their plan and it didn't include Isabel. "Everyone's okay. They're just waiting in a cell. No-one's even asked them anything yet."

Kyle joined Alex setting the satellite transmitter/receiver CeCe had given him to monitor the base's communications on the floor next to him. "Alec was right then; they must have been waiting for Lydecker."

The group went back to patiently waiting around. Alex was the only one who could sit still. After several sessions with Isabel, his control over his mind-reading abilities had improved greatly, but being on a meditative state helped him and he didn't want to risk missing an attempt to reach him from inside the facility. Isabel stayed close to him for the most part. She acted as both a calming presence in Alex's mind and an echoing field to boost Max and Michael's 'presence'. From this far away, Alex could barely reach the ones inside Manticore and only through Isabel's own connection to her brothers he could communicate easily with them. In a moment of intense stress or anxiety his reach could spread beyond normal circumstances and Isabel had theorized that meant his gift would probably grow way beyond its current stage. Time would tell. For the moment, having Isabel closed was his safety net.

Liz kept watch on the road going up to the military base. It wasn't long after that, maybe another hour, that cars started showing up. Like cattle to the slaughtering house. Kyle had already told them Lydecker had ordered everyone called in. Every soldier, scientist, nurse and janitor had been ordered to report to base. Liz kept track of every car that went in, calling out brands and plates for Maria to contrast them with the list CeCe had given her of every employee and their vehicles.

For the time being everything was happening according to plan.

The transgenics had anticipated, to the last detail, every move the military had followed. Now they all had their fingers crossed, waiting for the last piece to fall into place before they could all breathe easily.

"Lydecker's in there with them!" Alex exclaimed suddenly and they all held their breaths.

The Xs had discussed this step at long, they needed to give away enough to make Lydecker call in the Committee but not so much that he'd order one of them dissected on the spot. They needed to be Manticore's technology on the right measure.

The silence stretched on, hearts beating fast. It seemed as if every little creature that lurked in the woods could feel the tension and had stopped with baited breath, just listening along with them.

"It worked," Alex breathed out in a relieved sigh at last. "Lydecker's livid."

Kyle, who had had the headset on the whole time, didn't waste any time turning up the volume and getting his equipment ready to record.

Five minutes later the calls started coming. Fifteen calls, all over the country, all very short, a codename and a rendezvous time. In seven hours, the people responsible for Project Manticore would be inside the facility. And so would they.

The following hours had dragged forever. Manticore was on lockdown, trusting their security to the perimeter cameras and satellite feeds, so they didn't need to be on the lookout for any more patrols. All they had to do was sit and wait. Something none of the, was especially good at.

When the first limousine rolled up to the main gates, the group of anxious teens was already hiding in the woods just outside the facility. They all came in the span of an hour, the last coming in with fifteen minutes to spare before the meeting with Lydecker.

A few minutes after the gates closed behind the last Committee member Alex closed his eyes, took hold of Isabel's hands and let Max know. Everyone's home, guys.

Max answered with Alec's orders: stand by twenty minutes and then start working their way in. The timer went off with a single beep and they all exchanged looks. Waiting time was over.

Kyle, Alex and Isabel went first, and when they got to the gates they heard them open. Kyle saw the cameras switch off in the middle of their rotation.

Liz, Maria and Ava joined them and they all went through. The trek to the base itself took them another fifteen minutes and by the time they got in sight of the building there wasn't anyone around. The whole place looked deserted. They followed the map Biggs had drawn for them and they turned into the corridor where the conference room was located in time to hear Lydecker's astonished fury.

"What the hell is going on?"

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"What the hell is going on here?" Lydecker demanded.

Alec turned to Biggs, ignoring the furious man. "Biggs, get Sandeman to another room and lock him up."

Lydecker's face registered surprise at this. "Who?"

One of the men sitting at the conference table stood on his own and walked towards Biggs.

The general, who had been sitting to his left, made as if to stand. "What's this, Reavers? Who's Sandeman?" A hit to the back of his head stopped him and he turned to receive Maxie's glare full on.

Sandeman didn't pay attention to any if that. He just stood before Biggs, waiting.

"This way, sir," Biggs instructed him.

The two men left the room and the rest of the now prisoners fell silent. Just then, the rest of the party entered the room

"Okay," Alec exclaimed, addressing everyone. "Let's get this show on the road, then."

Maxie and CeCe took the bag Kyle had been carrying and got out several sets of handcuffs. They went around the table, cuffing everyone to their chairs.

"Evans, Ava, whenever you're ready..." he pointed to all the stunned men at the table and then focused his attention on Lydecker. Behind him, Max and Ava started the tedious process of manipulating the memories of the Committee. "Well, Colonel, we meet again."

The barely concealed disdain in Alec's voice, which had been masked during their 'interrogation' made Lydecker study the young man before him speculatively.

"I didn't think I'd make this much of an impression the last time we spoke," he commented coldly. The anger and surprise at the turn of events had started to shimmer into a cold rage. He was aware he'd been played into delivering the Project Manticore's Committee and the fact that he still didn't know how it had happened enraged him even more. He kept his attention on Alec but he hadn't missed what the two teens were doing. Not that it made any sense to him.

"Nah, not really," Alec readily agreed, too nonchalantly to be real. From the corner of his eye he saw Biggs re-enter the room.

Lydecker tried to think of the way to keep Alec talking. He **needed** to know what was happening and **who** was behind it.

Unfortunately for Lydecker, Alec had a lifetime of experience reading the colonel's face. He knew exactly how angry and out of control the man felt at the moment and it gave him great pleasure to whisper in his ear. "I don't think so. Don't have the time or the inclination," Alec said, dismissing the man and his angry glare from his mind.

He felt Liz's presence behind him and glanced at her. She was holding out to him the last pair of handcuffs for Lydecker, the only one still loose. Using the cuffs as an excuse, he reached out and squeezed her hand softly, winking at her.

From the wall, CeCe had been watching Lydecker's reaction closely. The man had always been this mighty figure that handed out pain and punishments between his toy soldiers. She had never imagined a time would come when Donald Lydecker would look small and defeated, powerless. It was oddly gratifying to witness his fall. To be the one pulling out the floor from under his feet.

Alex spoke up suddenly. "He thinks Sandeman planned the whole thing. Or, to quote the Colonel, 'That bastard Reavers, whoever the hell he really is'."

Liz nodded, grimacing. "Yeah, but not only that, if feelings could kill this whole lot would be dead."

"Sandeman?!" Maxie exclaimed outraged. "To hell with that!" she told Alec. She leaned down to speak in Lydecker's face. "I don't want him dying in the dark," she taunted the man. "I think he should know what 'a bunch of kids' do to sick mean men like him," she spat.

Alec chuckled and turned to look at the others. "Don't you just love her?" he asked, amused.

Liz watched Maxie and Alec. She felt the enjoyment Maxie got from toying with Lydecker. Alec felt pretty much ambivalent on the topic. The Xs had never said exactly what they planned to reveal to anyone in the base. It was a moot point, really. Everyone was going to undergo the memory wipe-out anyway. This was personal for them.

The Committee members didn't know where to look: Alec, Maxie, Lydecker and maybe some answers; or Max, Ava, Izzy and whatever they were doing to Governor McMannings, who had suddenly fallen asleep.

"OK," Alec said finally and looked at Liz. "Hey, pretty, fix that thing for me?" he asked, nudging his shoulder almost imperceptibly.

Liz put her arms around his neck and stood on tip-toes to give him a chaste peck on his lips. With all the eyes in the room on their out-of-nowhere kiss, Liz removed the concealment the aliens had put over the barcodes before the raid started. "All done," she whispered against his lips.

Alec smirked. "You just wanted an excuse to kiss me," he teased her. He'd been as surprised by her actions as everyone else.

Liz just winked at him and then went back to standing next to Michael, leaning on the wall next to the door and keeping an eye on everything.

Alec gave Lydecker his back and moved aside his hair, revealing his barcode.

Lydecker's reaction didn't take long. The outraged "That's impossible!" that sprang from his lips made Alec smile.

"Yeah, well, possible or not, here we are," Alec taunted him. Lydecker looked around at the rest of the group.

Biggs straightened up and saluted. "X5-511," he 'reported' before his posture slouched and he added a dismissive "...sir," in a drawl. CeCe barely looked at the man as she recited her designation in a bored tone. Finally, Maxie strut towards the colonel and leaned down to be face to face again with her nemesis. "Ain't no way I'm answering to that stupid number you gave me, you hear me? My name is Max."

Lydecker stared at the angry young woman mouthing off at him. Suddenly, that spark of recognition he'd had the first time he saw her made all the sense in the world... in a totally senseless way. "452," he whispered.

"Argh!" Maxie growled. "What did I just say...? Hey! How the hell did you know?" she demanded.

Lydecker was about to refuse answering when he realized that would be relinquishing any little power, if any, he had left. Instead, he met her eyes and said, "You have my late wife's eyes."

Maxie scrounged up her face. "Eww..." She took a few steps back, shuddering in disgust.

Lydecker went on. "And you," he told Biggs, "are about to be put down," he lied then turned to Alec, "and you have been rejected for the Special Project I just put together."

Alec put a hand over his heart. "That breaks my heart, it really does. Did my twin make the cut by any chance? Him and Maxie here?" he watched Lydecker's eyes narrow. "Yeah, I thought so. Hey, Deck, you wanna know what'll happen to that Project of yours?" Alec didn't let the colonel answer. "I guess they're gonna like it so much that they won't be able to help themselves and will run out on your ass first chance they get. You'll lose your position and never get it back. Ever." Alec towered before Lydecker. "How do you like the prospect, sir?"

Lydecker opened his mouth to answer but Alec cut him off.

"Oh, wait, I don't care. Just wanted to let you know it was your own kids who destroyed your life. Not one of them," he said pointing behind him.

Then, he looked at Isabel and nodded towards the shocked colonel. She came up behind the man and laying her hand on his head put him to sleep.

"Can we make him believe he's an ape or something when he wakes up?" Alec asked suddenly watching the few members of the Committee still conscious become considerably upset.

Isabel finished up and moved onto the next man. The last of them looked terrified by the time she put him to sleep, whispering "Night, night," into his ear first.

Once they were 'alone' they split up. "You know what to do, guys," Biggs told the teens. "I'll bring you Sandeman back, Alec."

Alec watched them leave the room. The only ones left behind were Ava and Evans, who were doing their thing; Isabel, who was acting as support for the other two -- and... Well, batteries, Alec guessed -- and Alex, who didn't have any thing specific to be doing right then.

Biggs came back with Sandeman in tow, and the old man sat in the same chair he'd vacated only twenty minutes earlier.

Biggs threw Alec a comm. and told him to "call if you need anything," before going to meet up with CeCe in the control room.

Alec moved the General over and sat on the table in front of the Familiar.

"So you're Sandeman," he started, seizing up the man responsible for his very existence.

Sandeman took Alec's scrutiny with a patient nod. He hadn't asked anything, hadn't demanded explanations on hows or whys. He wasn't privy to any more information than Lydecker had, but the one thing he 'knew' was that these people were going to help him achieve his goal in a way the government and the military wouldn't have.

"If I may..." Sandeman spoke up and Alec nodded at him. "I'd like to know what your plans for the X5s are." When Alec didn't answer him, he went on. "Lydecker said you'd set charges all over the base and he thought you were going to kill everyone..." he left the sentence in the air, waiting for Alec to fill in the blanks.

"But you don't," Alec said instead.

Sandeman smiled. "Not really. Taking into consideration your latest moves, I'd dare say you won't."

When Sandeman didn't add anything else Alec decided to stop playing games. Honestly, he was more than tired of the whole thing already.

"Okay, then. Here's the thing. As far as we know, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you were the one behind the original idea for Project Manticore. You couldn't finance the experiments on your own and stay under the radar at the same time, so you recurred to the government. Of course, they loved the idea. Perfect soldiers designed from scratch, what's not to like? Who wouldn't jump at the chance, right?"

Alec paused to see if Sandeman would correct him or volunteer any information. When he didn't, Alec went on.

"What you didn't tell them was the real reason you wanted to create them. You weren't looking for the perfect soldiers to protect this country... As you probably sold them the project... You wanted a new race able to protect humanity against the global genocide the Familiars are planning."

If Sandeman was surprised by any of what Alec had just revealed, at how much he knew or had guessed, he didn't show it. He merely inclined his head and seemed to think about what he'd heard. Then, "What year exactly do you come from?"

Alec smiled. He wasn't surprised Sandeman had correctly guessed what was really going on. There had been rumors around TC that said Sandeman had put Familiar DNA in the mix that went into creating the Xs and that was where some of their extra-sensorial gifts came from. "2021," he replied "And no, the Familiars haven't made their move yet, but we think it was really close."

Sandeman nodded, "Their latest estimations put the Comet somewhere between 2020 and 2025." He paused, looking around at the sleeping men in the room. "Would it be too bold of me to ask what is happening to them?"

"That depends," Alec stated, ready to negotiate. "See, you were right. We are destroying Manticore but we're taking the Xs with us. All of them. And I don't want to have to kill anyone... It would be a hassle I'd rather avoid. That means all of them need to forget about project Manticore completely. Not one of them can remember ever hearing about genetically engineered animal/human hybrids or what they can do. It's not enough to destroy the data because there would be nothing to stop them starting all over again somewhere else."

Sandeman was nodding his agreement. "The project is too valuable to let that happen... How can you be sure no-one outside this room knows about this?"

"Oh, there would have been leaks. Knowledge about the project has been around the world in the last ten years of my time. But right now, the results are too new and unstable. That means, there isn't a soul outside this base that knows anything I might be worried about... Unless you've told any faction of your kind... something we'll discuss later. What's important is that they all need to forget and that's what they are doing," he said, pointing at the aliens over his shoulder. "The how," he added when he saw Sandeman's mouth open, "is need-to-know- only. And you don't."

Sandeman closed his mouth again and looked back at Ava, sitting in the middle of the table with her eyes closed, and Max, with his hands on the head of the most powerful pharmaceutical empire's CEO.

"Why aren't I sleeping then?" he asked finally.

Alec took a deep breath. He needed this to work the way they'd planned. "Two reasons. One, Manticore isn't some project you were brought into a few years ago. It's a life project for you. I'd have to wipe out the whole of your memories. Two, and most important, I was hoping you'd want to join us."

That finally surprised the old man. "Join you?" he repeated stupidly.

"Yes, join us. When I said I'm taking all of the Xs I meant just that, all of them. Not only the X5s but also the 3s and 4s. I know the X1s didn't survive gestation and the 2s were so unstable they had to put them down. Only four of them were kept for 'observation' -- which is Manticore speak for experimentation. But the 3s and 4s, while not human in appearance, are as human as the 5s. And we are taking them all."

Sandeman kept quiet so Alec took that to mean he agreed with them. He hadn't forgotten Joshua's convincement of Father's affection. Someone like that couldn't really be in favor of killing the transhumans.

"Of course, you can't exactly take them out into the public. And we refuse to take them from this basement just to sump them in another one," Alec explained. That was something they had all agreed on. The thought of Joshua locked in another dark room had been enough to push them harder to find a workable solution. "Money is not a problem. We're going to buy some land and build a private place for us to live in. A transgenic community you could say. That's where we want you to join us."

Sandeman was silent for a while, processing everything he'd been told and the options he faced. Had he made a mistake when he went to the government for help? Well, of course he had. The government couldn't be trusted with something like that. He'd just been out of options. These young men and women seemed to have thought of every angle. They knew the gist of what he was trying to do and Alec was offering to help.

"Maybe you'd like to know that the government and the military aren't the way to go for you anyway. In a few years you will be out of the project anyway, and this place will become the boot camp from hell for us... Just in case you need some convincing," Alec added. "Of course, keep in mind, **we** would be the ones in charge. Your position would be that of an advisor. You'd get to see your 'creations' grow up... And your knowledge about our genetic make-ups would come in handy more than once, I'm sure. We'll face several medical problems in the future and your help would be very valuable."

Sandeman knew it was a good deal. He'd always known going into hiding was a real possibility in his future. The cult would never stop looking for him, they'd never let him defy them in such a way. In the end, it all came down to one thing. "Will you help me stop them when the time comes?"

Alec smirked. "Rolling over and dying was never an option for us." He thought of his lives. The one he'd left behind, the one he had now... the one he could lose shortly. "There's too much to fight for not to," he offered softly.

Sandeman stood and reached out his hand. "I'll do it," he said and Alec accepted the handshake.

"Good."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How long will it take to get it all, Ce?" Biggs asked from behind her. She was setting up the computer they'd brought in.

"A while," she sighed. "I'm getting everybody's main hard drive. Lydecker's and the scientist's, who was working from Sandeman's original research, will go into my own hard-drive. Manticore's files on the different series are being uploaded into our server. Half of it had already been copied the first time, anyway. But Alec wanted Manticore's whole mainframe and that'll take a while."

_"Kyle, there's another one here. Send the bug to the General's e-mail,"_ Alex's voice came through the comms. Kyle was holding.

"Got it." CeCe pulled the e-mail address from her own files and sent the virus that would destroy the General's hard drive. "It's a good thing they can read their minds before erasing their memories because if after all the trouble to get them here and make them forget, one of them goes home and finds a personal stash of Manticore data we're screwed."

"Yeah, well, let's hope that subliminal order to go open their e-mail accounts and read our mail the moment they get home works," Biggs commented.

"You know, I'm more worried about the possibility of them having told anyone about Manticore," Kyle mused out loud.

"Who are they going to tell?" CeCe asked.

"I don't know... Nosy assistant? Trusted wife? Whoever!" Kyle theorized.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Who is going to believe them?" she insisted.

"Hm... Good point. I guess."

Biggs sat in the chair next to CeCe's and put his hand on her nape, gently massaging the tense muscles there. "Have a little faith, guys. Too many things could go wrong, but... We're the good guys! Luck is supposed to be on our side here."

"Let Buddha hear you, man," Kyle mumbled.

Biggs chuckled and spoke into his comms. "Hey, Michael, how're those charges coming?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Almost done," Michael reported. "Not that I'm dong anything," he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that," Maxie threw over her shoulder.

_"Roger that, we'll be here a while yet, we'll meet up with you out front. I'm gonna send Alex and Kyle back for the vans,"_ Biggs said.

"Okay, man." Michael clicked off his comms. and went back to watching Maxie handling the explosives. "Did you hear that, Max?"

"Yep." She attached the detonator to the small bomb and connected the wires. "A'ight, that's the last one." She stood and collected all the tools into the duffle bag at her feet and slung t over her shoulder.

"Lead the way to the barracks, then," Maria prompted her happily. She'd been in a high from the moment she'd laid eyes on Michael again and she'd been anxiously waiting to see all the X5 babies.

Liz shook her head, smiling fondly. "What exactly are you expecting to see? I mean, they're just babies, Maria."

"They're not just babies, Liz. They're 'X5' babies!" she exclaimed.

Liz was about to retaliate when Maxie cut her off. "She's right, Liz. At this stage we haven't lost the tails yet. And at this time of day, they're probably doing drills or something similar..." she drawled.

"Really?" Maria asked astonished.

Michael and Liz laughed. "She's pulling your leg, blondie," Michael told her, pulling her closer.

"I knew that!" Maria defended herself, offended. "I was just playing along..."

"Sure you were," Maxie laughed. She turned down a corridor and pointed to the other end. "That's the barracks down there. We'll need to know which room I'm in," she told Michael.

"Got ya," he said and pulled out the comms. "Hey, Biggs?"

_"Yo!_

Michael rolled his eyes. "Always the professional. Pull up the sleeping arrangements and tell me where Maxie should 'not' go in."

_"Wait a sec... Okay, once you enter the barracks there'll be five doors. The first one on the right has Lydecker's Special Project... And one tiny X5-452,"_ Biggs sing-sang.

"Fuck you, Biggs," Maxie yelled at the comms. in Michael's hand.

"Thanks, man," Michael cut in before those two could really get into it. "How're those vans coming?" Michael changed the subject.

_"They're driving back now. Another five minutes before you can start loading 'em up."_

"Good. Later," he ended their conversation. "So we'll start from the left," he announced.

The four of them entered the barracks. The door in the middle was opened and they could see a long corridor that opened up into a large room at the end where four bay windows, one from each Unit's room, could be seen.

The four teens went to the last room on the left and Maxie opened up the door with a key-card she'd taken from the nurses' station at the back. The light on the panel went from red to green and Maxie opened the door. Nineteen pairs of eyes were trained on her. She took a few steps inside and then snapped into the most usual handler position. "Inspection," she barked and 19 toddlers rose from their beds and stood at attention at the foot of their beds.

Liz felt her stomach tighten into a knot. The whole thing was just wrong. At her side, Maria had lost all of the giddy excitement too. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. Like nothing they could have imagined, really. It wasn't natural to see so many... babies, really... so still and silent. Maria reached behind her for Michael's hand, needing some kind of comfort, and he pulled her into his side.

Maxie hated the sight as much as the other three but she knew what the Xs needed to hear right now. There would be time to change that later. "Soldiers, we're going on a field exercise. Squad leader, front and center."

One of the oldest looking kids, maybe three years-old, took a step forward and waited instructions.

"State your designation."

"X5-397, ma'am," the boy said, his voice strong and confident.

"Take your unit and follow me to your transportation, 397," Maxie ordered.

The tiny soldier saluted her. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am." Then he turned towards the door and spoke to his unit. "Move out," he commanded and he followed Maxie who had turned around and was leading the way outside towards the front doors of the base where the vans should be waiting by now. She never looked back, knowing the whole unit would follow orders.

Liz, Maria and Michael stepped aside and watched in amazement how toddler after toddler fell into position after their CO and they all followed Maxie.

Michael went after the last one and told the girls to wait for them.

Liz and Maria walked into the nurses' station. None of the nurses were there, of course, they had all been held like the rest of the medical staff, waiting to be interrogated and cleared of all suspicion by Lydecker. Something that wouldn't happen now.

The place was empty but they walked up to the bay window that looked into the second unit. Most of them were just sitting on their beds, apparently waiting to be told what to do. A small group of five children was softly whispering in one corner, and one lone kid stood by the window... Lookout?

They heard Maxie and Michael come back but they stayed where they were. Even from back there, Liz heard Maxie talking to Michael. The reaction inside the room was immediate. The six toy soldiers out of their racks rushed back to them and they all stared at the wall.

Liz pressed the small button that switched on the audio from inside the room and heard Maxie's voice.

"State your designation," she ordered the boy who had just stepped forward.

"X5-494, ma'am," the boy said and Liz grabbed onto the edge of the desk.

"Oh my God..." she gasped.

"I know," Maria whispered next to her.

Liz thought she saw the younger version of her boyfriend -- and hell if that wasn't a sentence she wouldn't have imagined herself saying in a million years -- move his head fractionally towards them, as if he'd heard.

Maxie gave them the same orders and they watched the room emptying up. Instead of following them, this time Michael came back to join them.

"Jesus, that was awful!" he exclaimed. "They all got into the van by themselves," they even climbed into the mini-racks on their own... One by one, in an orderly fashion. They didn't say a word or showed any interest or surprise... Nothing." He sounded baffled and upset. "It's the freakiest thing I've ever seen."

"I know," Maria repeated. It seemed like the only thing she could manage.

"I so wasn't expecting this," Liz commented, still watching the X5s. "I know they said they were soldiers and everything but... This is too much... Look at them, they're alone, completely unsupervised and they're still so motionless. I'd never seen a group of healthy children looking so... Dead," she finished in a whisper, as if even the idea hurt to say out loud.

They were silent after that. They watched Maxie take the third unit and then she came back to the nurses' station with them. She stayed out of sight from the last room, not wanting to risk seeing or being seen by herself. The time was fast approaching but it wasn't here yet.

"You know what to do?" she asked Michael and he nodded, almost reluctantly. "Don't hesitate. You're the one in charge. Don't say anything beyond what I've said. They don't expect anything else, wouldn't know what to do with anything else," she added.

Michael took a deep breath and kissed Maria briefly before going to the front of the barracks. Maxie watched Maria. "Not at all what you were expecting, huh?"

Maria met her eyes, an almost guilty expression on her face, but Maxie's tone had been more knowing then reproachful and she smiled tightly at the blonde.

Maria's gaze went back to the window. Michael had just entered the room. "No," she admitted softly.

Liz and Maria watched how Michael took the last unit outside and once they were out of sight they turned to Maxie. "They're gone," Liz told her.

"A'ight." Maxie looked briefly into the room and then back to the girls. "Let's bounce. We still got the ones from the basement to collect."

She led the way to the basement, readying herself mentally to see the Nomalies. They were almost to the stairs leading down when Alec met up with them.

"Hey, Maxie, is it done?"

"Michael just took my Unit to the vans. We were going to get the N- the transhumans," she corrected herself.

Alec smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. "I'll go with ya." He winked at Liz and noticed the weirded out look she was giving him. "Something wrong?" he asked her, letting go of Maxie and walking closer to Liz.

She shook her head but she was already speaking anyway. "It's just..." she trailed off.

"I know it can be a shock-" he started.

"I just saw you," she blurted out, cutting him mid-word.

Alec stopped in his tracks, surprised. Then it downed on him. "Right, COs," he said nodding. They stared at each other for a moment, standing alone at the top of the stairs, and then Alec smirked. "Wasn't I the cutest kid?" he asked, pulling her towards him with a hand on her nape. Alec kissed the top of her head and smoothed her hair down softly.

Liz laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "Yes, you were," she agreed, both her laughter and her words sounding muffled against his chest where she was hiding her face.

They joined up with Maxie and Maria in the basement corridor. "CeCe says there should be 57 transhumans in cells down here," Alec told them. "They're asleep, same as everyone else in here. We'll have to get gurneys to move them."

Liz frowned, "Didn't you mention there were a lot more transhumans than that?"

Alec nodded, "There should be. I didn't get to know every transhuman in TC but I got the impression they were older than us," he commented, puzzled. "I really don't know. There's no way to be sure of anything, really. We've just stopped Manticore mass-production of freaks and we can't know how many more were coming. The 'failed experiments' are all here probably," he predicted, "but maybe some of the task oriented soldiers like Mole or the merpeople were still being designed."

"I thought you said Mole was definitely older than you," Maxie asked him.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. I expect to find good ol' Mole down here, but he might have been a prototype or something. I just don't know."

They checked one of the utility rooms to see if they could find gurneys in the basement.

"Are the Czechoslovakians finished with the Committee?" Maria asked Alec.

"Almost. There were two left when I ducked out. They were going to take a break and grab a bite before moving onto the guards and technicians. We'll load up the transhumans and then eat something ourselves, okay?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The last five hours seemed to have dragged on forever. They were all exhausted. But, the good news was it was almost over.

The four transgenics stood at the entrance of the main building, staring at the place that they were about to obliterate.

Every person within the building had been evacuated. The whole of the Manticore personnel was unconscious; they'd been laid down in a clearing in the woods within the property, at a safe distance from the blast.

The vans carrying transgenics and transhumans were back in their campsite already. Only Michael and Liz remained with the four Xs. They had decided to first finish the mission and then take care of the possible disappearing act.

Alec looked around at the people with him. He was glad he'd had the chance to meet this Maxie, so different from the one he'd known in Seattle. Biggs glanced at him when he felt Alec's eyes on him. Alec smirked, if he had to live here the rest of his life -- however long that turned out to be -- he couldn't have asked for better company than him and CeCe.

"Let's do this, people."

"Good riddance!" Maxie spat at the building.

The group went to the two humvees they had 'borrowed' from the base. Maxie, Liz and Alec in one; and Biggs, CeCe and Michael in the other one. CeCe was carrying the detonator. Once they'd cleared the property completely she pushed the little button and they all winced at the loud explosion that followed.

It was over. Manticore was no more.

A few miles down the road, Maxie spoke up suddenly from the backseat. "We did the right thing." They'd been in silence until then. The camp was already visible ahead of the road.

Alec met her eyes on the rearview mirror. He didn't know if she Maxie was saying so or asking; or even if she was talking to them. "Yes, we did," he agreed anyway.

Maxie glanced at Liz, sitting next to Alec. He followed her gaze. Liz had fallen asleep.

Alec smiled at Maxie. "They're all running on empty. It's been two wrecking days for all of them," he commented.

"Wasn't a walk in the park for me either," she mumbled.

Alec nodded, it was different for him, Biggs and CeCe. Maxie had never really 'been' a soldier, only trained for it. Still, the responsibility of keeping their human -- and not so human -- friends safe had weighed heavily on him too.

He reached the camp and stopped the car. Maxie got out without another word and Alec turned to wake Liz.

He moved aside a lock that had fallen over her face and leaned in to kiss her. His hand cupped her cheek and he brushed his lips over hers softly, nuzzling her nose and calling her name in a low murmur. She smiled and opened her eyes,

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, you, sleepyhead." He pulled back and sat against his door, facing her. "It's time."

Liz nodded, her smile a little less bright and a tad more forced, but she remained silent.

"Remember, if things go south forget about all this. Let Sandeman worry about all the trannies," Alec instructed her. Liz was nodding but he could see in her eyes that she was only humoring him. He wished she would listen to him. "I've already cleared everything with him. I don't want you guys to think you're stuck with all the mess. It's someone else's problem, okay? You worry about your own stuff... And if you ever need help... Financial, refuge, whatever... You go to him and he'll do whatever he can for you."

"You didn't tell him...? You know, about us, right?" she asked anxiously.

"No, of course not. It's your secret to tell, Liz. If we stick around maybe he'll earn your trust someday. If we don't, then you shouldn't tell him. He doesn't need to know why you may need help, it's a part of our deal. He'll do it," he assured her. He'd spent a few hours talking with Sandeman at the base. He'd wanted to make sure all his bases were covered.

"Okay," Liz said. Beyond Alec's head on his window she could see four little kids entering one of the tents. "I think they're ready," she told him softly.

Alec glanced back briefly before pulling Liz over to sit on his lap. "I don't want a big scene," he said and Liz shook her head, not trusting her own voice. "So you just kiss me," he pecked her, "and we'll do this thing, okay?"

Liz kissed him then. She tried to pour everything he'd made her feel the last few weeks into the kiss. She wanted him to know how much he'd meant to her, how much knowing him had changed who she was. She wanted to tell him that she desperately wanted him there with her. She wished she'd thanked him for all the things he'd shown her about herself. She'd wanted so many things and now she'd run out of time.

Liz felt a few tears escape her closed eyes and she wanted to kick herself for it. Alec didn't want her crying all over him. But he just wiped them with his thumbs and kept kissing her.

When they drew apart, Liz kept her eyes closed. 'Just a little bit longer,' she prayed.

Holding Liz closely in his arms, Alec opened the door behind himself and stepped out of the car. He let Liz slide slowly down his body until they were just hugging each other. He felt her tighten her embrace before finally letting go.

"Let's go," she said.

They walked towards the tent were their younger selves were. Maxie, Biggs and CeCe were already there, waiting for Alec.

"Are you sure you don't want to leave on your own?" Alec asked Biggs and CeCe.

Biggs pulled CeCe closer and kissed her cheek. CeCe shook her head.

"You know the future's already changed and we're still here. You can still make it," Alec insisted.

"We couldn't live here, in this year, and not live with them," Biggs said, nodding towards Sandeman and the vans holding the rest of ex Manticore soldiers. "So let's do this."

Alec looked behind to the group of Roswellians watching them rather apprehensively and he smirked. "Wish uh luck," he said and stepped into the tent.

The other three followed him immediately. They were all together in this.

The tent was dark but all eight people inside could see just fine. The four children stood watching them.

No one said a word. The silence stretched for a few never-ending seconds, four adults holding their breaths and four kids just waiting for orders.

At last, Alec shrugged, "494," he said, "come here." He saw himself step forwards and knelt to be eye-level with the younger version of himself. He reached out and passed his head over the kid's shorn head. "Huh... I'm so not going to miss the hair-style," he joked.

Then he stood and looked behind to the other three. "Other than swapping fluids with the kid can't get any closer than this."

Biggs walked up to the young 511 standing behind his CO and put his hand on his shoulder. "You think the whole thing was a bust?"

"I really don't know," Alec answered thoughtfully, watching Maxie pick herself up. She was the youngest of them all. "But we should really hit the road. I don't want to be here when someone comes to check the base."

They all left the tent. The relieved sigh from the ones outside could be heard throughout the campsite. Liz laughed and went to Alec.

"I've never been so glad to be wrong," she said into his neck where she'd burrowed her face.

"Shouldn't we leave? Like, now?" Michael asked.

"Yeah," Alec said over Liz's head. Everything was packed already. They were ready to leave. "Let's load up and get outta here."

CeCe and Maxie took the four kids to the van with its back door still open. Alec and Liz climbed in behind them.

Biggs sat behind the wheel and Michael and Maria jumped into the cabin with him. The rest got into the other van and their own vehicles. One by one, Biggs leading and the rest following, they all drove towards the main road, ready to leave the known past and future behind.

By the time they reached the I-25 heading south, the shock and surprise of the results of their mission had worn off.

"I really thought you'd be gone, you know, I don't understand why Max disappeared the moment we changed the future and you guys didn't," Liz insisted. She'd been mulling over the whole thing for a while.

"I guess time travel isn't an exact science," CeCe ventured. "I mean, it shouldn't even be possible."

"I don't think it is for us," Biggs pointed out. "You know, if you look at it objectively, the only two instances of time travel that we know of included an alien entity doing the actual time traveling thing."

"Yeah, but that's exactly my point. Both you guys and Max used the same method, the Granolith, to travel in time. The same rules should apply in both cases," Liz reasoned.

"Maybe that the point, Liz," Alec argued. "We didn't use any method. You said Max programmed the Granolith to travel to a specific point in time with a specific purpose." He saw her nod. "How do you know the instructions for the Granolith didn't include his disappearance when his mission was complete?"

"That makes sense in a weird kind of sense," Michael opined from the cabin, turning to look at Liz. "I mean, look at his state of mind, he'd just lost everything and everyone he ever loved, and if he had stayed even after he completed the mission he'd set out for himself... What kind of life could he have? Stranded alone in a different world, basically."

"You think Max could do something like that?" Maria asked, doubtful.

"I don't know... Maybe," was all Michael said, still staring at Liz. Then he turned back around.

An uncomfortable silence followed. Maxie cleared her throat awkwardly and Liz refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"Anyway," Alec started again, "what I was trying to say is that we established, as far as we can be certain of anything, that the Granolith didn't pull us into this timeline on purpose, that it was an accident. Maybe that's all the reasoning behind us not disappearing."

"You mean like you shifted time by accident and now you're stuck here no matter what you do?" Liz asked. It sounded kind of too good to be true... For her, at least.

Alec shrugged, "Maybe?"

"Actually, how can we be sure you didn't, like, split up when the Granolith spat Tess out and half of you came here and the other half kept going on your merry ways in your own times?" Maria said out of the blue. They all looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "What? How is that option any weirder than any of yours?" she whined.

Biggs chuckled, "I guess it's not, really."

"That would mean that you haven't disappeared because you've changed with everything else and you've got a new future now?" Liz asked.

"I got a headache," Michael grumbled.

Maxie perked up. "You know what? We've been looking at time and space as a straight line, but, what if it's not? What if it's a circle? That would make everything we've just done a repetition of something we've done a thousand times before."

"How does that answer our question?" CeCe asked, frowning.

Maxie's face went blank. "Mmm... I don't know!" she exclaimed at last.

"In conclusion," Alec said, "the only thing we do know is that we don't know what happened or why... Or even how. Is that it?"

"Pretty much," Biggs answered. "And you know what? I don't much care. We're here, and it looks like we're staying." He looked at CeCe in the rear-view mirror. "Can't say that I'm complaining."

TBC

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Thanks to all those who are still reading this story. Please review!


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm awfully sorry to have kept you all waiting for this long. Most of you won't even remember this story at all. But if you do remember it and still give a rat's behind about it, here's the last chapter. The epilogue will be posted before the week is over.

**Crossroads**

by lyra

**Chapter 11**

"Move, move, move!" Maria ordered, pushing people out of her way. The vehicle had barely stopped before she jumped out. "Thank God!" she exclaimed, relieved.

"Way to be over-dramatic, don't you think, Maria?" Isabel teased her.

"Laugh all you want but if I never have to stay in a car for days on end again it'll be too soon."

The whole group was out of the cars now, stretching their bodies after the long drive.

"Not that I didn't enjoy the 'trip'," Maria went on, "but I gotta say the idea of a road trip is way more comfy than the reality of it."

"You got me there," Isabel admitted, rearranging her clothes... Or trying to.

"Yeah, man, it was getting somewhat cramped at the end there," Kyle agreed.

"Babies," Michael shot at them over his shoulder, looking for his keys inside his bag and walking to his front door.

"Aren't _you_ glad to be home, Michael?" Liz asked him pointedly.

Michael scowled at her. "I'll sure be glad to lose sight of some of you," he retaliated, glaring at her. "It got so crowded that I lost sight of my own shadow."

Alec snorted. "I don't think it's your shadow you were missing, big boy."

Maria walked through them like water and latched herself onto Michael's back while he opened the door to his apartment. "Don't listen to them, Michael, they're just jealous you're getting some and they're not. Besides," she added over her shoulder, "that'll teach them to knock, don't you think?"

"God, yes!" Liz shuddered. "Trust me, never again."

Alec just chuckled. "Nothing I haven't seen before, Maria."

"Whatever," she dismissed him.

Alec turned to Kyle. "Call your father and have him meet me here, will ya, Kyle?"

Kyle stood straight and saluted. "Sir, yes, sir."

"Funny," Alex mocked him. "Now give me a hand with these bags, private Valenti."

When they got inside Michael's living room, Alec was on the phone, standing by the window. Michael had disappeared into his bedroom and Liz and Maria were looking into some take-out menus. Alex dropped the bag he was carrying at Maria's feet and went to sit next to Isabel on the couch.

"Pizza or Chinese, Alex?" Maria asked over Liz's head.

"I thought we were going home now?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Yeah, well, we're ahead of schedule, we gotta wait for the Sheriff, then get the story-telling part over with and then the goodbyes or whatever... we've got time to eat. Besides, Michael's fridge is empty, he's gonna have to order in anyway. No sense in wasting the trip," Maria reasoned.

Alex nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I could eat... We had Chinese last night. Pizza."

"Okay, pizza it is."

"You didn't ask me what I want," Kyle complained.

"That's 'cos we don't care," Liz answered him with a sweet smile.

"That's great, Parker, thank you." Kyle glared at her. "Dad's on his way, Alec."

Alec nodded to him but kept talking into his phone.

"No anchovies, please," Max requested, sitting next to his sister. "All the 'special' stuff is unloaded. It'll stay here until we can go out to the Granolith. The rest of our bags are in the patio. The sheriff's gonna have to take us all home."

Michael came out of his room and joined the girls in the kitchen. "The SUV's staying here?" Michael asked and Max nodded at him.

The RV had been returned in Las Cruces where Alec had bought a Hummer. The Roswellians had done the last leg of the journey to Roswell in it and the SUV, while Maxie, Biggs and CeCe had taken the vans and all the Manticore alumni and gone with Sandeman.

They'd driven to the land they'd recently acquired. The Roswell group had been surprised to discover the Xs had dealt with that problem sometime in between all their travelling and their assault on Manticore. Apparently, they'd started the paperwork in Washington. It wasn't official yet, but they had a temporary permit to camp in situ while everything was settled.

"Okay then, Biggs. I'll pick up the last of the supplies from Valenti and meet you guys in... three hours?" Alec spoke into the momentary silence. "Sure, later." He disconnected the call and sat down at the counter, next to Liz. "Did anyone mention food?"

"Pizza will be here in thirty minutes," Maria informed everyone.

"Where am I gonna sleep?" Ava asked suddenly. The group looked at each other surprised. They hadn't talked about it because most of them had assumed she'd stay at the Valenti's but no one had actually said so. Seeing all the puzzled expressions Ava explained, "I don't want to crash into anyone's life, but I don't have cash to pay for my own place, either." She grimaced at the unpleasant thought of going back to the streets. "Could I crash with you guys?" she asked Alec.

Before he could answer Michael spoke up, "You can stay here. The couch's a fold out... You can pay up half of the rent when you find a job around town," he added when Ava made to complain.

"It's okay if you stay with us. Nothing to hide you haven't already seen," Alec offered anyway.

"I think it'd be best if Ava stayed close, too," Max said, then he added, "Not that you're gonna be very far but still..."

"Your choice," Alec told Ava.

"For what is worth," Isabel piped in, "I'd feel better with you here, I think."

Ava didn't know what to say. She hadn't really known what to expect when she'd decided to come to Roswell. For all she knew the other three wouldn't want to give her the time of day. Especially considering Tess...

"You know you could stay with us, though, right?" Kyle said into the awkward silence. "I've become oddly attached to our couch, I don't know how I'll tell my dad..."

Ava smiled appreciatively at Kyle, touched by the offer. "Michael's makes more sense, I think," she said finally.

"Why, 'cos he's an alien too? Do I have to remind you that I'm kind of one, too, now? I might need protection or something..."

Just then the bell rang.

"That'll be my old man." Kyle rushed to the door. He'd been surprised by how much he'd actually missed his father's comforting presence the last few weeks.

"Kyle!" Jim enveloped his son in a fierce hug.

If Kyle had missed his father that was nothing compared to how much Jim had missed him. Not only missed, either. The former sheriff had been worried sick for all of them. And hearing about the stuff they'd gone through from thousands of miles away had been torture. He'd almost lost his son.

Letting go of Kyle, Jim came into the room and looked around at the others. Even while greeting and answering all their questions about those left behind at home, Jim studied the group. They all looked exhausted, most of them were slumped wherever they were sitting. Those coupled were sticking close, as if drawing comfort from each other. This brought to his attention how close Liz and Alec were sitting. He frowned.

The pizza arrived and they all dug in, rehashing the details of their journey and all the stuff they'd found out centering on the aliens' side of it. Alec didn't elaborate on his own tale beyond a vague 'it's done'.

Finally, Liz checked her watch and gasped, "God, we really got carried away, guys. Our parents were expecting us half an hour ago."

"Great! Mom will kill me," Maria sighed. "She's been pestering me to have a girl's night tonight. She wants to hear about 'everything I've seen and done'. She was so excited about the idea... I'm surprised she didn't ask to come with us."

"She mentioned something about it, actually," Jim confided. "I'm not sure how much was excitement and how much worry, though. Nevertheless, I convinced her it wasn't such a good idea."

"Did you have to promise her lots of one-on-one time to sway her?" Kyle teased him.

"Maybe..." Jim said over the general chuckle and Maria's groan.

"You know, that sounded funny in my head... but the mental image is making me rethink that one," Kyle shuddered dramatically. "You have better stayed away from my couch," he added winking at Ava who smiled. They had decided she'd be staying with the Valentis in the end, Jim wouldn't hear any other option.

Alec stood and caught Jim's attention. "We better take care of those supplies you brought for me."

"Sure, my truck is parked next to that monstrosity of yours."

Jim led the way and Alec squeezed Liz's hand before following him.

Once outside both men regarded each other. Alec had seen Jim's watchful gaze on him too often to be casual. He had a pretty good idea what it was about but he wasn't about to volunteer any information. If Jim had a problem he'd have to say so.

Jim had never thought twice about speaking his mind. He wasn't about to start now. "You and Liz are a couple now?"

Alec couldn't help the smirk. It was second nature. "Yeah," he said simply. When the older man remained silent Alec prodded him, "That a problem?"

Jim delayed his answer, wanting to see if Alec would add anything else. Which he didn't. It was really none of his business. Liz would be 18 in a few months anyway. And probably way more mature than the transgenic standing before him. Finally, Jim relented. "Not right now. But I'll keep an eye out for her." It was more a promise than a warning, though. Jim Valenti cared deeply for all the teens in his care, as he'd come to think of them. He was looking after Liz, not doubting Alec's intentions.

Alec got his meaning, or at least Jim thought he did because he didn't take offense. He just turned to his own car and opened up the rear door. Jim followed his example.

"These boxes make up the last of the perishables. There is a few hundreds of non-perishable food up there already. I took up the tents and mattresses first thing. You can fit anything from 150 to 200 people, depending on how big they are."

"The rugrats will probably sleep in the carriers we brought them in. We'll just move them into the tents. Depending on how fast we can build the dorms they might be okay there the whole time."

Jim nodded, passing the next box to Alec. "I got a few documents for you to sign. The Bureau sent them to my home address yesterday. You'll have to fill them up and return them as soon as possible." He kept moving boxes but he was lost in thought.

They were almost finished by the time he spoke again.

"They sure seemed to be in a hurry... I didn't know something this big could happen so fast."

Alec snorted. "You have to know which buttons to push. The Bureau suits have gotten themselves in quite the monetary pit. That land up in the Sacramento Mountains didn't give them any benefits and there was nothing special that made it worth keeping. The right amount of digging up gave us the last bargaining chip we needed," he told Jim with a meaningful look.

It took Jim a moment to get it. "You're blackmailing a federal agent?"

Alec gave him a horrified look. "That sounds so wrong, man." Then he smiled. "Don't be so shocked. We didn't kidnap the guy's kid or anything. All we did was let him know we were aware of some of his least commendable hobbies. Not that I care one way or another, but I'm sure his wife would love to know."

Jim was shaking his head half in amusement, half in reproach. He handed Alec the last box. "That's the last of it." He brushed off his clothes. "Whose name is going on the deed? You guys decided yet?"

"Yeah, Sandeman's." Jim looked surprised at him. "Seeing as he's the only one who actually exists... Well, not really, because he's using a fake ID, too, buy it's a pretty good one. He comes from money, you know?"

"So you won't be getting real identities, then?"

Alec wiped his hands down the back of his pants, walking back towards the apartment with Jim in tow. "Nah, we will. It's just easier on the long run. But I'm not in a hurry right now. We've got workable false IDs on a pinch, just nothing with a background that would pass a semi-thorough check. Biggs and CeCe don't even have last names picked."

"You and Maxie do?" Jim asked surprised. It seemed to be his default mood when around Alec.

"Sure, Maxie's been going by Max Guevara so long that I think she's forgotten it's not really her name. And I had to pick one when I got my job last year. It's McDowell."

They were already at Michael's door. Everyone was on their feet or on their way out, saying goodbye to Michael. Maria was attached to his hip, whispering in his ear while Max and Isabel talked to him.

"Let the poor guy go, Maria, you'll see him tomorrow, for chrissakes!" Alec told her from the door.

Maria didn't bother to look at him to flick him off, making everyone laugh. She just murmured to Michael, "I don't think I'll be able to go back to normal. I've gotten used to ravishing you anytime I want and now- Michael!" she yelped.

Michael had lifted her into his arms and was rushing to his bedroom, sending a hasty goodbye over his shoulder to the others while he took care of the more private send-off for Maria.

"There we go..." Liz sighed. "Maria! We gotta go!" she yelled at the closed door. "Our parents are waiting!"

Alec walked up behind her and hugged her. "Give her a few minutes... And take some yourself," he baited her, nuzzling her neck.

Liz swallowed the moan that wanted to escape her lips. Turning half-way she yelled to the sheriff, who was waiting just outside, "You guys go on, Alec will take us when Maria's done."

Jim poked his head in and Alec nodded at him. "OK, then. Get your things, boys. We're leaving."

Soon after, Liz and Alec were alone in Michael's living room.

"So, not to sound clingy or anything but... When will you come down again?" she asked from her cozy spot in Alec's arms.

He shrugged, "Not to sound like I'm giving you the brush off or anything but, I really don't know. We have a lot to do up there right now..." he felt her sag onto his chest. At least she seemed more resigned than angry. "Actually, I was thinking, we could use you guys. All the help is welcome. Maybe you could come visit as soon as you think your folks won't skin you alive for skipping town again."

Liz winced. She'd been thinking about it herself. She knew her parents were bound to be extra clingy the next few days. "I'll see what I can do."

Alec nodded. "You can call anytime, you know that," he offered instead.

"Yeah..." Liz tightened her grip on him before letting go completely. She hit the bedroom's door with her open hand and laughed when the soft kissing noises she could barely make out became a surprised yelp. "Still waiting, Maria!"

"Are you kidding? So am I!" Alec grabbed her again, turning her to face him and pushing her against the wall.

"I don't know what you mean, mister. What exactly are you waiting for?" she asked innocently.

Alec raised a knowing eyebrow and stepped back, calling her bluff. "I just thought you'd like to say good-bye properly, you know, because we won't see each other for a while... My bad, no problem," he shrugged her off.

He hadn't even turned completely before Liz plastered herself to his side. "No, no, no, I was kid-" Off Alec's smug smile she glared at him. "You totally played me. If you were even a little bit less hot you'd be so sorry for that."

"I know, I'm a bad, bad person," Alec confessed contritely... not. He kissed her forehead. "Don't be mad, you're just too cute to resist," he laughed.

"I'll give you cute," Liz mumbled, grabbing his shirt and pulling him down to kiss her.

Alec was more than happy to oblige, but she kept pulling back to talk. "Just so-" kiss, "you know-" nip, "this-" bite to his bottom lip, "will be the last-" kiss on the same lip, "action you see-" kiss on his jaw, " 'til I come up to see you-" bite to his chin "so you'll better-- Alec!"

Alec had run out of patience and she was right after all. He lifted her, trapping her between the wall and his body. Liz agreed wholeheartedly with the change in position, which gave her better access to him, and forgot all about making her point. She was enjoying Alec's attention too much.

Suddenly, the door opened and a dishevelled Maria came out. "Sorry, sorry. Totally got carried away. I'm done now. Ready when you are..." she got it all out in a single breath. When she realized there was no one in sight she turned around and saw the couple kissing. She leaned on the wall, next to them, and cleared her throat loudly.

It was Alec's turn to wave her off without bothering to come out for air.

Maria laughed. "I'll be in the car," she announced, grabbing her bag and walking towards the door. "If you take too long I might have to drive myself home."

Alec's pained groan followed her out.

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In the end, the trip to the mountains had been postponed for more than a week. Between their parents' reluctance to let them out of their sights for a few days, the compulsory visit to the Granolith, the 'fake shopping trip to Las Cruces to buy clothes for the new school year about to start' that turned out to be not so fake because Amy and Nancy gave the girls a long ass list of things for them to buy, and a four day convention that had the Crashdown swamped, there just hadn't been time.

And that was only Liz' week.

All in all, it seemed Fate was determined to keep the group in Roswell for a little while.

Finally, they were on their way. Jim led in his SUV, since he knew the way, and Max followed in his new car.

"Have you been to the camp this week, sheriff?" Liz asked him from the backseat, trying to distract herself.

She felt stupid. It had only been over a week for God's sake! And she'd talked to Alec every other day. They'd only been together for a couple of weeks and suddenly she couldn't cope without him? That was pathetic and she refused to be that person.

She missed his hot skin, though. Transgenics had a higher basal temperature -- Alec said that made him scientifically hot, the dork -- and he was always warm to the touch... 'It's summer, Liz Parker, you do NOT miss his warmth!' she screamed at herself, and then she realised she'd almost missed Jim's reply.

"...haven't had much to do around here anyway. And Alec insisted in paying me for the hours I've put in on the new shelter."

Liz took that to mean that yes, he'd been to the camp quite often. She remembered telling Alec during the trip how they'd cost Jim his work as Sheriff a few months back. She felt a silly smile creep up on her face. See? It's not only that hot body she liked, Alec was a great guy.

"We're almost there," Jim informed them when they took a left off the main road and crossed an open gate that marked the beginning of a smaller dirt road.

"I can't believe they're going to live here!" Maria exclaimed suddenly. "So isolated, with no commodities."

"They need the isolation, Maria," Liz reminded her.

"I know that," she retorted, rolling her eyes. Like she could forget about the less normal looking Manticoreans they'd brought with them. "It's just that, well... There's no electricity! That means no TV, no radio, no computers... Wait, how the hell are they gonna stay up there with no communication means whatsoever?"

"Maria, it's not the Dark Ages, there's no electricity hooked up but they have batteries and one of the first priorities right now is to get the mother of all generators up there."

"Yeah, every trip I've made has included gallons of fuel for the generator. It should be there sometime next week," Jim added.

That had been one of the things Liz had discussed with Alec on the phone. There was so much work to do before their new home would be ready.

Just then the car took a right turn and the camp came into view. Not that they could actually see anything yet. A wall made of tents blocked their view into the actual camp. But they could hear loud voices coming from the other side as soon as they got off the cars.

"Mole, no!!"

A loud crash followed the warning and Jim laughed. "That's gotta be the tenth time I've heard that in the last week," he explained to the others. Max's car stopped behind theirs and the others got out.

A kid around ten came running around the tents and past the group, followed closely by Maxie.

"I mean it, Josh! Stop right there!"

The kid froze where he was, not moving a muscle. All they could see of him was the shaggy hair covering his face. Maxie got to him in three big steps and turned him to face her. Kneeling before him, she pushed his brown mane aside.

"Got ya now, don't I?" She smirked. "You're it!" she exclaimed, pulling softly on his hair. With a gentle slap on his butt she sent him off, groaning pathetically.

The watching people were speechless.

"B-but... that's cheating!" Maria spluttered finally.

Maxie shrugged unapologetically. "Well, yeah... So?" She approached the newcomers. "They need to get rid of the conditioning. That'll teach him." She dismissed the shocked faces and addressed Jim. "Did you bring the chocolate?" she asked him excitedly, suddenly looking all of ten herself.

Jim pulled a box from the trunk and Maxie rushed to get it from him.

"Come on then, guys," she said, gesturing for them to follow. "Welcome to Freak Nation v2.0"

They followed her around the tents and found themselves in the middle of chaos. There wasn't any other word for it. Dozens of kids running around long tables and benches, some tables still had the leftovers of the meal they'd obviously just finished. One of the tables hadn't been vacated yet and there was a group of around 25 children still eating.

All things considered, the whole thing was a lot quieter than it should have. It was nothing like their first encounter with the X5s but the noise level had yet to reach normal for the number of kids running 'wild'.

Liz looked around at the campsite. The view was actually quite beautiful. Apparently, the road they'd been travelling led to a lake in the middle of the mountainous landscape. The lake was nestled in the junction where three peaks met. Several springs fed the still waters and there was a relatively wide plain surrounding the lake. It seemed like the perfect place to build a mountain resort.

There wasn't much actually built yet. The 'mess hall' they'd seen was made of tents, too, and from it there was a newly made path leading to the latrines, a good way from the rest of the camp.

"That's new," Jim observed, nodding towards a wooden cabin situated a bit to their left, next to the path that led to the lake. "It wasn't there yesterday when I left."

Maxie followed his gaze. "Yeah, it got here a few hours ago. It's one of those prefabricated houses. It'll be Sandeman's home for now... what with him being, you know, old and everything..."

"It'll also be the office," Alec added, coming up from behind them.

Liz turned around in time to be pulled into Alec's arms for a quick kiss hello.

"And that's my cue to leave," Maxie sing sang saccharine-sweetly. The others left with her, giving Liz and Alec a few minutes alone.

Not that they noticed or cared. Alec's quick kiss was followed by Liz's thorough version of 'hello'.

"Well, that's some greeting you got there, missy," Alec laughed when they finally pulled apart.

"That it is, sir..." Liz felt almost giddy, enjoying the feeling of being back in his arms a moment longer and then pushed him off and hit him on the chest. "Dammit, Alec, what have you done to me, huh? I'm like a thirteen year old with her first crush!" she retorted angrily.

Alec burst out laughing. Liz's annoyance was just too funny. "It's a talent."

"Talent, my ass," she muttered under her breath. "We better join the rest now, before I drag you off somewhere into the woods and the troops lose their commander for the rest of the day." She grabbed him by the front of the shirt and pulled, but Alec resisted.

"No, please, drag me away, Parker. They don't really need me. Biggs and CeCe are way better at handling the playground. They seem to think I behave too much like one of them or something."

Liz laughed at Alec's cute expression, totally believing their assessment of Alec. "Move it, soldier," she ordered him.

Alec gave in and let her drag him towards the cabin where Biggs was going over some maps and blueprints spread on a table right outside, his back to them.

"538!" Alec heard some kid or another shout. _We need to give them names ASAP... before Maxie discovers her passion for naming stuff._

The dark haired X5 never even looked up but he knew Liz was coming up behind him anyway. "Hey, Liz, how was the welcome home?"

She stopped beside him, nudging his hip with hers. "Tiresome... I think my parents missed their waitress way more than their daughter."

Biggs chuckled, finally looking up at her. "Slave drivers," he commiserated. Then he turned to Alec. "I think I found the perfect location, man. It's close but not too close. Accessible from the road but defendable... And it will be easy to get the underground building done without too much hassle."

Alec hummed, studying the spot on the map Biggs was pointing at. After a quick run down of the mental list of must-have's on his mind, he nodded. "Looks good. We'll go take a look later today."

"What's that going to be?" Liz inquired curiously, most of the maps were labelled, but there was no name on this particular one. She didn't look up from the map, trying to read the different markings on it and she missed the look the two X5s exchanged. "And where are you building the dorms? Or any other building for that matter?" she asked, looking around at the grounds.

Alec and Biggs talked her around their plans, painting a vivid portrait of the resort they planned on building. It sounded a lot like what she imagined summer camp to be. A big communal building where the cafeteria and recreational rooms would be; smaller dorm cabins; a school; a sports center (Xs have a lot energy they need to burn off, they explained). Those were what they'd put up now. With the years they'd add a lab (Liz's interest was greatly peaked by that), probably a new building of apartment-like homes, and some other stuff that was still in the air. They didn't mention any underground construction to her but she didn't really notice, too busy picturing in her mind what they did mention.

It's not that it was a secret per se, they'd already mentioned they were going to need a communications system set up as soon as possible. They just thought it wasn't necessary to go into detail as far as how complex... or legal... that system was going to be.

Defense was their first priority. They'd brought all of the Manticore alumni here and they planned on making sure they would be safe. Secrecy was a necessity. Alec would probably explain everything to Liz eventually but there was no rush.

xxx

Isabel had let Alex geeking with CeCe over the new computer she'd gotten and so she'd taken the chance to explore her surroundings on her own. She felt an almost disturbing fascination with the genetically altered children they'd rescued from Manticore. It had been weird enough to be around the adult version of the X5s sometimes. And it took some weird shit to freak her out, considering some of the things she could do. But still, Alec, Maxie, Biggs and CeCe were different. They were adults.

She found a big rock on the edge of the camp closer to the lake from where she could oversee almost everything.

Maxie had organized a game of tag, instructing them not to blur. They had followed her lead for a while but apparently being children was catching up to them and Isabel could see, or more to the point, not see, some of them forgetting the rule. There were groups of Xs playing and groups of transhumans on the other side. Some of the arctic ones were down by the lake where it was cooler.

She'd been sitting there almost half an hour when she noticed one long figure detach itself from the Xs running a few yards away and make his way back to the camp from the woods.

The kid was following the path in which her rock sat on. He was walking in and out of the different groups of Xs running around but not joining any, focused on getting to the camp. Isabel followed him with her eyes but didn't move. She thought the X5 hadn't seen her, which of course wasn't true. When he got level with her, the child glanced up at her, marking her position in relation to his mental map of the camp, and moved on.

It wasn't until he'd completely passed her that she could see he was bleeding from a cut on the back of his thigh. She jumped down and rushed to him. "Hey, wait!"

The boy stopped and turned to her. "Ma'am?"

Isabel winced at that. _Ma'am? Geez! How old does he think I am? I'm no ma'am,_ she thought crossly. "What happened to you?"

He looked straight ahead. "I fell on a sharp rock, ma'am. I'm going to the infirmary to get it treated now," he reported, pointing to the small tent next to the cabin. Isabel thought she could see a red cross painted on the canvass.

Isabel knelt behind him and moved the torn fabric aside to see the cut. It wasn't that deep but it ran all the way down to the knee and it was bleeding quite a bit. "But doesn't it hurt to walk on it?"

He looked at her, dumbfounded. "It needs to be treated, ma'am."

"Oh, forget that 'ma'am' crap. I'm Isabel." He just nodded at her. "Okay then, how about I take care of that and in exchange you show me around? You can tell me what you guys do around here all day."

The X5 looked at her strangely, he glanced down at his leg and back to her. She didn't seem to be carrying any medical supplies.

Seeing his hesitation, Isabel picked up a twig and snapped it in two. Then she waved her hand and put it back together. "See? I can do that to your leg, too. It'll be faster and painless. No need for stitches."

The boy examined the now restored twig and then he looked back at Isabel. "Are you a transgenic, too... Isabel?"

"No, I'm not. But I'm different, like you." She waited for him to make up his mind, just letting him read her intentions in her eyes. It didn't take long. The boy turned around and reached down to move the pant away, offering the wounded flesh to Isabel's touch.

Isabel smiled at him, looking at her over his shoulder, and got to it. A moment later, she put the pant back in place and fixed that, too.

"Done! How'd that feel?"

He felt the place were the wound had just been through his pants. "I didn't feel it at all." He straightened up and met her eyes. "That's a really nice trick, Isabel."

"Thank you... Er..." she trailed off, waiting for him to fill in his name. But he didn't. "What's your name?" she finally asked him.

"My designation's X5-296," he replied.

Isabel frowned, they still didn't have names? "OK, 296. Mmm... is that okay?" He shrugged and she continued, "How about that tour?"

Their little excursion took them by Alec and Biggs and she watched, amused, how 296 reported the incident and Isabel's intervention to them. He seemed worried he'd done something he shouldn't but Alec just gave him a smirk and said, "Don't worry, kid. It's always better to just listen to a pretty lady when she wants to check you out." Seeing the small quirk to his lips, Alec thought, _Well, there's still hope for them._

xxx

Max watched Maria and Ava playing with a group of X5 kids. He'd observed that the transgenics and the transhumans didn't really mix, they kept to themselves in opposite sides of the camp. For one, the transgenics were younger and they'd never even seen their more odd-looking brethren before, only heard of them. Alec had told them how the X5s were kept apart from the rest until after Maxie's unit escaped.

When they started going out on missions they'd come into contact with soldiers like the one running past him right now.

"Mole, I'm not telling you again," he heard Maxie yell at the lizard boy squeezing his way through the startled Xs.

Max turned to see the brunette scowling at the boy.

"Mole, give me that right now!"

Max could see the kid had something on his mouth but he couldn't make out what- Was that a cigar!?

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Maxie heard him, of course, and she walked towards him. The scowl still on her face. "I can't believe that idiot gave the kid a cigar, asshole. It's like he wants to see me mad... I'm a laid back girl, I don't like scowling, but he thinks it's hilarious for some reason... I'm gonna wring his neck and watch him choke with a smile on my face, see if he likes that."

Max hadn't followed her at all, but there was one thing he did get. "Who gave it to him?"

"Alec! And Biggs, probably. Apparently where they come from Mole's always smoking those smelly things. They said something about missing it, the idiots. The kid can't be more than eight and they're giving him cigars!"

Max tried to hide his smile, he really did, but the narrowing of her eyes told him he'd failed spectacularly. "Well, just think about it as shock therapy. He won't want them anymore when he gets sick because of it," he tried.

"You're defending those lowlifes?"

Max shook his head, "No, of course not. I would never."

Maxie slapped his shoulder... harder than she'd intended, hopefully, because that hurt. "So what do you think of our little home?"

Max looked around again, trying to be subtle about rubbing the spot where she'd hit him. "Little? This place is anything but. Alec was just showing us the plans a while ago. It's going to be huge, almost like a little town when it's finished."

Maxie rolled her eyes. "Well, yes, if you want to be literal about it." She looked out to the south west shore where a two mile square grass plain acted as the doormat to the mountains ranging off from the lake.

"It sure is a gorgeous place to live," Max commented softly, following her gaze.

"I guess," Maxie said. "I've lived all over the country for the last ten years. Big cities and small towns, in the coast and the mountains...There are lots of beautiful places to be. This one's not bad."

She looked around, seeing all the kids and the other three transgenics talking animatedly with some of their visitors, she felt a stab of homesickness for her family. "At least I'm not alone anymore," she murmured.

Max nodded, even though she seemed to have been talking to herself. "I know. I could live anywhere as long as I had my family with me."

Maxie could see Isabel in the distance, talking to one of the kids, and Michael was sitting close to Maria and Ava, watching her amused. "I thought you didn't have much longer to be together."

Max looked at her startled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, aren't you all on your last high school year?" She saw him relax. "I thought you guys would be splitting up afterwards, you know, different schools, different choices... separate lives."

Max shrugged. "Yeah, sure. But that's only a few years out of our lives. I don't think we'll end up settling down for good very far away from each other. Even if they don't think so now, everything we've gone through... Some of them will feel the need to walk away and find their own feet, you know. Maria, probably. Maybe Kyle..." He trailed off, his mind wandering, and Maxie let him to it. It seemed they'd touch a difficult subject for him.

Still, he never really told her to mind her own business. She'd seen him shrug off well-intentioned conversations with his sister, Maria, or even Alex. But he always seemed willing to talk to her. Maybe it was the fact that he knew her the least. Or maybe not, considering he'd seen her most private thoughts and feelings when he healed her.

Eventually, Max shook off his morose thoughts and looked back at her. "How's it feel to go from the baby of your family to being the adult?"

Speaking of her most private thoughts. She chuckled, "It's weird to see them babying little me and then snapping to attention when I tell them to do something."

Max watched the light go on in her eyes. He'd noticed before how happy the mere thought of her family made her. "Have you spent much time with them?"

She shrugged. "Not really with them so much as keeping an eye on them, you know, when they can't see me. Zack is really worried about them. Jesus, he's barely three and a half and we've just taken them away from any kind of normal they knew." She pointed to all the children, there were still lots of them who looked out of place and unsure about their new surroundings. "Luckily, they seem to answer okay to Alec and Biggs. They're not so comfortable with me and CeCe because there weren't any women in command, only the nurses."

"Look at the bright side, Maxie, with Alec as a role model they'll shake off that military attitude you're so worried about in a matter of weeks."

She laughed, "Yeah, probably."

They stood watching over the X5 children for a while. Max kept thinking about what the place would look like when the X5s got done with it. A thought occurred to him. "What do they do all day?"

"Oh, they help out. They put up tents and organize meal times and bed time. The COs are a great help. They're usually the oldest of the groups and they know their units, what they can handle and what they can't. Being transgenics they're stronger and more coordinated than human kids. Alec was saying the other day that he was going to use their help digging up the foundations of the first construction we'll be starting tomorrow."

"Really?" It was weird to think of an army of midgets doing construction work. He imagined a long line of children passing one rock from one to the next all the way to the dumping. The thought made him smile, but he was sure the adults would know where to draw the line. He noticed again how there were no transhumans in sight where they were. "Aren't you trying to get them to mix?"

Maxie shook her head. "We don't want to force the issue. Working together helps. We're waiting to see if they get over it by themselves. If they don't, then we'll do something about it."

"I guess it's better that way. Who's looking after the others now?" he added seeing both Alec and Biggs here.

"Sandeman was last time I saw him. Probably CeCe too. Wanna go check?"

"Sure."

They walked around the groups of people towards the 'mess hall' they'd seen when they got there. On the other side he could hear voices coming from behind the cabin.

When they turned the corner and the lake came into view again, Max could see several dozens of transhumans lounging around. Some of them seemed to be a little more active, running around, some even fighting. He looked doubtfully at Maxie.

"They're sparring," she explained. "CeCe's there, watching and giving them pointers, see?"

Now that she mentioned it he could see the blonde X5 sitting to the side of the fighting group.

On the other end, sitting in the shadow by the cabin, Max saw Sandeman with two long-haired boys, reading a book to them.

"That's Joshua and Isaac," Maxie told him. "They're really attached to Sandeman. Apparently, Josh was the first Manticore success. Sandeman was the founder of the project, remember? He was the one who created Josh."

"They have names?"

"Oh, yeah. Actually I think it's thanks to them that my unit have names already. I didn't know but Jondy met Josh a few months ago and when he told her his name she decided we all had to have them, too. It wasn't usual for X5s to wander around, Jondy is one of the few with shark DNA, like me. That's why none of the other units have names yet."

They kept watching the quiet trio. Josh was absorbed in Sandeman's tale while absently petting Isaac. A moment later, his delighted laughter rang over the noisy camp.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kyle walked a few steps ahead of the four aliens, looking forward to this little outing, but one look over his shoulder confirmed the fact that Isabel would rather be anywhere else on the planet... Maybe even in another planet... And Michael was looking at him in a way that made Kyle think the quick-tempered alien was deciding where to blast him first. One glance at Max and Ava, quietly talking while they followed the others, told Kyle he wouldn't be getting any support there. He wouldn't hear a complaint but they weren't about to back him up either.

He sighed and kept climbing the small hill up to the new Granolith chamber. It's not like he was doing this for himself, you know. He was only trying to help out.

For the last two or three weeks the four Antarians had been getting increasingly restless. Mood changes, short attention span, prone to get lost staring at nothing... Short of slapping their weird mood away, meditation was the most helpful advice Kyle had for them. And this was the thanks he got.

Maria had washed her hands off Michael until he remembered she was his girlfriend, not his maid nor his mother. Her words. His father had asked repeatedly, politely at first and less and less so when the snapping hadn't stopped, what was bothering Ava. The Evanses, who had been so happy to see their children back from their trip, had suggested a small weekend camping excursion before classes started back, eh? Don't you think that would be fun?

Roswell seemed to be shrinking around the four aliens and sometimes they thought they heard voices calling them, coming trough below the conversations going on around them.

Tired of the whole thing, Kyle had put them all inside his father's SUV and driven them to the desert. It has halfway there that he'd thought of the Granolith and it had felt like the right place for this.

Of course, he hadn't told the aliens what he had in mind until they'd gotten off the car. And they didn't appreciate his idea. At all.

He got to the 'door' and waited for the others to open it. Michael got there first but he leaned on the rock wall and just stared ahead with a scowl on his face.

"Michael," Kyle prompted him pointing to the 'door'.

Isabel reached them then and opened it while addressing Michael, "The sooner we start this shit, the sooner it'll be over."

"Whatever." Michael entered the small chamber.

"That's the spirit," Kyle grumbled.

A few days after they got back, the four aliens had gone to the Granolith and made some changes to the temporary fix they'd arranged for the place. They'd hollowed out the interior of the formation they'd created before leaving, making room for a small group of people to stand comfortably inside. The whole thing had taken a lot out of them.

It looked nothing like before. For one, the four pods had been destroyed when the ship took off and blew out the rock cliff. And of course, the chamber they'd taken to call the Granolith had been the ship itself. So it mostly looked like a cave, similar to the one where River Dog had taken them to heal Michael.

Max had made a 'safe' in one of the walls and all their alien things were now kept there. Isabel had replicated the drawings from that cave.

But they hadn't found out where the energy they could feel came from. It was almost like a live presence surrounding them.

Kyle went to the center of the chamber and sat down, Asian style. Max and Ava had finally joined them and they closed the door behind themselves. Darkness surrounded them. A moment later a small light came alive in the middle of the chamber, right in front of Kyle. Max put it on the ground and sat before it. The weak light grew stronger every time one of them sat down around it. When they were all on the ground, the light illuminated a good part of the chamber.

"Well?" Michael drawled at Kyle. "Are we cured yet?"

"I don't think there's a cure for what's wrong with you, Michael," Kyle told him smartly. "As for the rest of you, I know you don't want to be here, but I don't see any of you coming up with a better solution."

"Solution for what, Kyle? We're just a little bit on edge, that's all," Isabel complained.

"Yeah, but why?" Kyle pressed. "What's making all of you so agitated?"

"What d'you mean? Nothing's 'making' us," Michael said, making air quotes, "we just are."

"And don't you think it's a weird coincidence that the four of you, and only you, keep twitching and staring off into space, and hearing 'voices' and--"

"Who told you that?" Max cut him off.

It had been somewhat of a gamble. Kyle only knew of Ava's case, really, but it was a safe bet, if it was something alien related, to think that they all heard them.

"I told him I thought I'd heard voices a few times," Ava told the others. "I didn't say anything about them, though," she told Kyle. And then looked at the others. "Didn't know there was anything to say," she said almost accusatorily.

Max, Michael and Isabel exchanged somewhat guilty looks. "I didn't tell anyone," Isabel admitted.

"I was convinced I was imagining it," Michael shrugged it off.

Max cleared his throat. "I... thought I recognized the voice. Maybe?"

"I didn't really make out any words, more like a humming in the back of my mind," Isabel offered. "Who do you think it is, Max?"

Max hesitated, he'd doubted himself for a long time but he'd caught a clear phrase only two days ago and he was convinced he knew who it was talking to him.

"Maxwell?" Michael prompted him.

"It was me," he said finally.

"But it was a woman," Ava argued.

"Yeah." "No, it wasn't."

Isabel and Michael glared at each other.

They all looked at each other for a long moment.

"Oookaaay," Kyle broke the stare down. "So Max and Michael are hearing a man and Ava and Isabel hear women."

"It's not _a_ man," Max insisted.

"And Max is sure he's hearing his own voice," he remarked pointedly. "So, obviously you're all getting your own voices."

"Well, obviously," Michael repeated sarcastically. "I don't see anything 'obvious' about this, Kyle. Why the hell are we even hearing anyone, no matter who?"

Kyle scowled at him. "Do I look like an alien handbook to you? I don't know, man. But if we can at least agree on the who, maybe that'll help with the why, don't you think?"

Michael shrugged. He was mostly along for the ride. It had been annoying as hell to keep getting distracted by the voice suddenly popping up at random times. It put him on edge and made him snappish. He didn't like that.

"OK, then." Kyle looked at the other three, he felt like a first grade teacher. "Ava said she couldn't make out any words, how 'bout the rest of you?"

Isabel shook her head but Max and Michael both hesitated. "What?" she asked them, "What did they say?"

Michael spoke first. "I didn't get what it said, I just... I don't think it was English. I heard him clearly once but I couldn't understand it. I guess that's why I didn't recognise my voice... If it's my voice," he couldn't help adding, to bug Kyle mostly. All it got him was a dismissive snort.

"What I heard was English," Max observed, confused. "In fact, it's something I remember saying myself. It was two years ago, when Topolsky came back, remember? We met up at the quarry to discuss what to do. I said 'There are five people in the world that I trust, and they're all standing right here'."

Michael and Isabel were nodding. "I remember," she said.

"Okay, that pretty much settles the who," Kyle stated, happy to get something out of the way. "Wow... One, what the hell, dude? You better update that number. And two, why would you get an echo of your own voice two years later? I mean, what the hell?"

Max looked at him helplessly. "Beats me. And that was when we were still hiding from your dad, Kyle. Lots of things have changed since then."

"Well, if it definitely was you, and we're assuming that it's the same for all of us..." Ava let the sentence hanging. She was looking curiously at Michael. "You speak any other languages, Michael?"

"What? No! I can barely string three words together in Spanish. And I don't- I think... maybe the voice was kinda young..."

"How young?" Ava perked up. "Like recently hatched young?"

"Maybe, I... honestly, I wouldn't know. Never really had much contact with kids." He exchanged curious looks with Max and Isabel. "Why?"

"We used to speak Antarian to each other the first couple of months until the shifter made us stop. Shortly after we started speaking English all the time he split and we sorta stopped knowing how to speak Antarian. One day was there, the next it was gone."

The three Roswell aliens watched her amazed. "You spoke Antarian?"

She nodded. "For a little while, yeah. Maybe you did, too, Michael."

"Who would I talk in Antarian to? Max and Isabel were picked up almost right away. I was alone for maybe a day and a half before some guy found me and took me to the authorities."

"Maybe you were talking to yourself," Isabel offered.

"I've always thought you weren't all there," Kyle added happily.

"Ha, fucking, ha," Michael grumbled and the others chuckled.

"Could you repeat what he... I mean, 'you' said?" Ava asked him.

"No," Michael replied in a tone that said he thought she was nuts. "How would I know?"

"Don't look at me like that?" she retorted, "I'm pretty sure we all have the knowledge somewhere inside."

"So you think if I somehow manage to repeat what I heard you could tell me what it means?" Michael asked doubtfully.

Ava rolled her eyes. "Of course not, I just told you I can't speak Antarian anymore."

"What's the point then?" Max cut in.

"I don't know. Do you have a better plan? It was just a question anyway."

"If we had it in writing Alex could translate it for us, but we wouldn't know how to transcribe the sounds," Isabel commented.

"Well, I can't remember so it's a moot point. We can't even be sure it was Antarian, can we?"

Kyle thought it was time to move it along. "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this--"

"It was your idea, Einstein," Michael interrupted him.

"The discussion, Michael. I didn't bring you here to argue about that, okay?"

"Right," Isabel mocked him good-naturedly. "The meditation thing."

"Yes, the meditation thing. I think it would be good for you to learn to clear your minds. Maybe the voices could get through more easily that way."

"Do we want to give better access to the voices?" Michael asked.

"If that'll make them go away in the end, I'm all for it," Ava declared.

Isabel shrugged, there were a hundred things she would rather do than meditate but who knew, maybe it would help.

Max kind of agreed with Michael, not sure opening up to the voices was a good thing, but he didn't have any real reason against it so he kept quiet.

"Good," Kyle said rubbing his hands. "The aim of meditation is to reduce stress and help you find inner peace. The best way to do that is changing your thoughts from negative to positive. And you gotta be patient. The mind doesn't always get with the program. Just relax."

Isabel snorted and Michael rolled his eyes mumbling something like 'terrific', but Ava seemed honestly interested.

"Okay, you gotta concentrate on your breathing. Be aware of your breathing pattern." He looked at the others waiting for them to do as told. "Make sure it feels comfortable to you. If it doesn't, change it until it does. Then let that feeling of comfort spread to the rest of your bodies." He watched the aliens, nodding encouragingly, even though they couldn't see him because their eyes were closed. "You gotta feel the inhale in the back of your skull and then let it flow down your spine and to your feet."

Then Kyle closed his eyes, too, taking deep breaths, so no-one noticed when a few minutes later the light dimmed. A blueish tinge started filing up the chamber, coming from the ground and climbing up the walls. It was a soft light, almost soothing. When it reached the ceiling, the temperature in the chamber heated up almost imperceptibly, the air itself seemed to vibrate.

Kyle opened his eyes, feeling the change around him. But the other four didn't seem to be aware of it. He opened his mouth to talk and then froze. The blue glow he could see all over started soaking into the four aliens. Their skin turned paler and paler. He reached out to touch Isabel and Ava, sitting on each side of him, but then hesitated. "Er..."

Max felt warm all over. There was a pulsing energy swimming in his blood and he was sure this was not what Kyle meant by 'letting the feeling of comfort spread'. He tried to open his eyes but they would not obey him. There was a moment of panic and then the voice came.

_"I have this... This really clear feeling about everything."_

Isabel was startled to realize they'd been right. It was her voice. The unpleasant feeling of fullness she'd just been filled with faded, the pulsing in her body slowed until it beat to the rhythym of her heart.

_"Did you feel like something inside of you was changing...like waking up?" _

_"Something primal," Max added. _

_"Instinctive," she finished._

Michael tried to make out the words but it was that same language he'd heard before. He didn't fathom why he got something he couldn't possibly understand when Max just heard himself speaking English, thank you very much. And then...

_"That's what opens the core, it's the key."_

Ava heard herself in a memory from a long time ago. She was still only a child and she was asking Rath, _"Why do you keep repeating that?"_ She remembered his answer, too. He'd scornfully informed her that he had to remember that phrase, that it was important. But he hadn't been able to give her an answer when she'd asked him 'Why?'

Kyle was starting to get anxious. Nothing seemed to be happening but he couldn't get the others to wake up.

"Come on, guys, I'm two seconds away from freaking out," Kyle begged.

Then, the four of them just opened their eyes. As if they hadn't spent almost five minutes in trance or something. One minute there, the next gone. And now back.

But they were clearly confused. They looked around, looking for something, but if Kyle had asked them what was it they looked for they wouldn't have known what to say.

The light that had been a lot dimmer while the aliens were out was back to full force and it was a lot brighter than before.

Looking at each other, finally Isabel just exclaimed, "Huh."

"That's one way to put it. What the hell happened?" Kyle demanded anxiously. He'd been quite scared even if he didn't want to admit it. He looked from one to the other, waiting for an answer.

"That was different," Michael said and Kyle focused on him.

"That's it? That was different? That's all you can say? You guys weren't there!"

"What do you mean, not there? We didn't go anywhere."

"I mean, it was like you were dead or something. You were here, yes, but you weren't."

Ava winced and started patting herself, arms, belly, legs. She seemed a bit worried. "Do you guys feel different?"

The other three looked at her, ignoring Kyle for the moment. "Different how?"

She looked at Max, locking eyes with him and she felt something shift inside her. The weird sensation she'd been feeling just disappeared. She smiled, relieved. "Nevermind. 'S all good."

"What was it?" Max insisted. He could feel something had changed in him, but it wasn't a weird change. It was almost like he felt more at ease in his own skin now. As if his body had been too tight around his soul all his life and only now the fit had become perfect. It didn't look like Ava had been feeling like that, though. She did now; he could see it in her eyes. But not before.

"I don't know, there was this energy running under my skin but it's stopped now. I feel better than ever, actually."

"What the hell are you all talking about?" Kyle exploded again. "This was supposed to be a relaxing meditation to help you guys loosen up and settle down. What's with the weird shows and the energies and the talk?"

Michael snorted. "Thanks for that, by the way. Why'd you bring us here anyway? How'd you know?"

Kyle stood and started pacing. "Know what?"

"To bring us here. We were supposed to get our powers. That's what the voices were for," Isabel explained.

"What? I didn't know anything. What do you mean get your powers? Where did they go?"

"They didn't go anywhere, Kyle," Max explained patiently. The whole experience had finally gotten ridden of the weird uneasiness they'd been feeling. "They're just more... Er... I don't know how to explain it. It's like what we had was just a teaser and now we got the real thing."

"Teaser? You call saving lives and blasting through walls a teaser?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Dude, it was just a metaphor, okay? It's not exactly like that. It just feels right, somehow. Like I can control the whole scope of the power I could kinda feel was there but couldn't touch."

Kyle opened and closed his mouth a few times before giving up and going back to pacing. "So what happened?"

"I think the Granolith did it," Max said. "Whatever that turns out to be."

"I think it could be the source of our powers," Ava commented.

"Can't be," Michael disagreed. "Nasedo said our powers are human in nature. Like we were what humans will be given a few hundred years' evolution, remember?"

Max shook his head. "Yes, but it could have something to do. The skins had similar powers, they could blast, and they're not human at all. It's possible we're a blend of what the human race will become and what Antarians are. It could be that we just got full control over our Antarian heritage."

"But, I mean, now you're like superaliens?" Kyle asked.

"I'm gonna superblast your ass if you don't quit with the stupid questions, Kyle," Michael threatened him.

"Okay, okay, I give up. You're Zen now, I get it."

Isabel checked her watch. "We should get back now. I'm meeting Liz and Maria in an hour. We're going shopping. You should come with us, Ava."

They gathered their things and left the chamber, sealing it again.

The ride home was quiet, only Ava and Isabel could be heard whispering in the back. Max and Michael, sitting next to him and behind him respectively, spent the whole time looking out the window, lost in thought. Kyle himself had a lot to mull over. The day hadn't gone like he thought it would. He'd only tried to get them away for a while and see if he could help them relax. Instead, he'd apparently been the conduit for some kind of awakening for the aliens.

What had made him change his mind and go to the Granolith anyway? He'd planned on going out to the desert, yes, but he'd been headed for the quarry where, he'd recently discovered, the group used to meet.

Roswell came into view and Kyle shook the thoughts away. Whatever it had been it was done now. He stopped at the Crashdown to drop Michael and then took the other two home. Once alone, Ava moved up to the front seat and stared at him.

"What?" he finally asked when he couldn't ignore it any longer. "Do I have something on my face?" he tried to joke.

Ava shook her head. She'd been thinking, back at the Granolith while he freaked and on the way back, how he'd put himself through the abuse Michael doled out and the haughtiness Isabel didn't mean to exude but did, and Max humoring his crazy ideas. He didn't have to put up with any of that but he wanted to help. She smiled at him.

"I just wanted to say thank you, Kyle," she said when he parked in front of the Valenti home. Then she just opened her door and got off.

"For what?" he asked, hurrying to catch up to her at the front door.

Ava laughed and winked at him. "I gotta go get ready. Isabel will be here in fifteen minutes."

"So you're going shopping with them, then?" Kyle asked, letting her change the topic. She didn't look like she was going to tell him anyway.

"Well, not shopping, really. I don't have any money, remember? I need to find a way to make some cash and soon. But Isabel insisted I should come anyway."

They headed straight to the kitchen and the fridge. The trip had left them both hot, dry and thirsty.

Suddenly, Kyle chuckled and Ava gave him a questioning look. "I was just thinking I wouldn't want to go shopping with Isabel."

Ava snorted. "I'm sure I can handle her. And Liz will protect me anyway. She's got a mean streak that girl," she told him, amused. "Who would've thought the cornball had it in her?"

Kyle shook his head and left the kitchen thinking _he_ could have told her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Who is this guy again?"

Liz rolled her eyes at her father on the mirror and kept brushing her hair.

Jeff Parker wasn't about to give up, though. "I know you said you met him in that mall in Las Cruces last month, but you haven't really told us anything beyond his name," he complained. "Alec." He grimaced. "What kind of name is that anyway?"

"A strong one. A name with character," Liz retorted.

"No, honey. Alexander is a strong name. Protector of Mankind. Alec's... not really anything, I'm afraid," he insisted.

"Are you gonna blame him for his parents' choice of name then? Because, he doesn't really like Elizabeth either... Maybe we'll change our names together," she taunted him.

Jeff gasped in mock horror. "Your Grandma Claudia suggested your name, young lady? Are you going to disrespect her wishes like that?" he demanded smugly, knowing he had her beat there.

Liz gave in good-naturedly. "Oh, okay. I'll keep the name. But I'm afraid I can't make Alec change his then," she sighed.

Jeff shook his head tragically. "You'll just have to find a new guy instead."

Liz laughed, "Nice try, dad. I happen to like this one very much. Weak name and everything."

"I had to try," Jeff sighed. "So you were telling me about this Alec..."

Liz looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "No, I wasn't." She cut his father before he could keep badgering her. "What do you want to know, dad? He's a guy, a nice guy. He's polite, smart, funny..."

"How old did you say he is?"

"I didn't. He just started a new business based in the mountains, so he's quite busy at the moment. But he's going to the trouble of coming down here to see me. And we're eating here in the Crashdown so you'll get to meet him... For a moment," she clarified, sternly. "And then we're going out to the movies or for a walk, I don't know."

Jeff was happily smiling by then, already plotting his meeting with Alec. "I'll let you get ready, then, sweetheart."

He was almost at the door when Liz called him and he turned to her.

"You'll get an introduction and a few minutes to make nice. If you try to ruin this for me --yes, dad, RUIN it, I know how your mind works--, if you don't behave the next time I tell you anything about my love life will be my wedding date."

Jeff scowled at her, not that he believed her, but he did believe she'd make life unbearable around the house. "I'll behave, Lizzie," he said, deciding to wait until he'd actually met Alec to see if he'd keep his word.

xxx

Alec entered the Crashdown, keeping the door open for Maria, who had insisted on being there to run interference until Liz came downstairs. He didn't need her help, but he didn't mind the company either so he'd agreed.

"Now, Liz will probably get here fast 'cos she won't want you alone with her dad anyway, but just in ca- Oh, Mr. Parker, how's the night going?"

Jeff had seen Maria come in with a stranger, talking animatedly and acting as if they were best friends and guessed the stranger must be Alec. He met them at the counter.

"Hi, Maria. It's not a bad night. Most kids are out and about these days, you know, enjoying their last days of freedom," he said, thinking it wise to remind the man standing patiently beside her that Liz and Maria were still kids. His kid, dammit. He offered his hand to Alec. "Jeff Parker."

Alec shook his hand. "Alec McDowell, sir. Nice to meet you." He gave a firm handshake before letting go.

"Liz will be down in a moment, she was just finishing-"

Maria cut in. "You don't give a gal's secrets away, Mr. Parker," she reprimanded him lightly and both men rolled their eyes. "None of that, Liz will make you both sorry and you know it."

Jeff looked worried for a moment before the thought of how exactly she would make the other man sorry crossed his mind, making him scowl.

Jeff looked briefly at Maria. "Why don't you go upstairs and help Liz get ready then?"

Maria opened her mouth to protest but the look Jeff gave her made it clear it wasn't a suggestion. She gave Alec a worried look and he smiled reassuringly at her. "Sure, Mr. Parker. See you, Alec."

"Thanks for the company, blondie." Alec told her. He could already hear the poor girl apologizing to Liz, 'I tried to stay, chica, but your dad...'

Really, he'd faced down tougher and meaner men than Jeff Parker... And women, for that matter.

Alec sat down on a stool. "Can I get some cold water? The drive down was dusty."

Jeff nodded and turned to get the drink. He set it down before Alec and leaned a hip on the counter, arms crossed and stern look. The very image of a disapproving father. Or at least what Alec had seen of one on TV.

"So, Alec, how do you say you met Liz?"

Alec took a sip and hid a smile behind the glass. "She hit me on the butt in the middle of the food court, made me drop my lunch and spill my drink on my shirt," he said, putting down the glass and shaking his head fondly at the fake memory.

Jeff opened and closed his mouth dumbly a few times, wide eyed. "She- Wha- Wher-" he sputtered.

Alec chuckled. "Apparently she was walking backwards and talking to Maria, very animatedly. She didn't see me. But she felt so bad that she insisted on buying me lunch."

Jeff looked a little relieved. "Right, well..."

Alec kept on talking. Liz had told him she hadn't told her parents any specifics about their supposed meeting. He thought he'd make it a good one. "I mentioned during lunch that I was looking for a present for my little sister and I had no idea what to get her. Of course, Maria offered to help me out," he finished.

Jeff cleared his throat, that did sound like Maria. "So where are you going after dinner?" he tried to squeeze as much out of him as he could before Liz came down.

Alec shrugged. "It's really up to Liz, since we're in her hometown I'll let her choose. I'm sure she knows where to go around here."

Jeff narrowed his eyes. "City boy?"

Alec nodded. "Seattle mostly. But I'm easy, I don't need much to be happy," he commented and saw Jeff's expression turn to dismay, he let the man suffer for an instant before adding, "Small town life fits me fine."

Liz chose that moment to make her appearance. She walked up to Alec and he kissed her cheek sweetly. "You look beautiful," he told her.

Liz smiled brightly. She pulled on his arm and dragged him away from the counter. "Let's sit down. We'll have something quick to eat and then we'll go, okay?"

Alec shrugged, "Whatever you want. I'm yours for the rest of the night."

"You're staying the night?"

He nodded, "I'm crashing at Michael's tonight. I'll go back in the morning."

Jeff watched them get into a booth unhappily. He heard Liz order food for both of them.

Liz watched the waitress leave and leaned over the table to whisper to Alec. "Okay, tell me everything. How's the construction work coming along? You got the generator running yet? Can we talk online now?"

Alec raised a hand to stop her tirade. "Breathe, woman. We talked on the phone two days ago. There hasn't been time for that many changes."

"I know, but you said I could get you on that special chat CeCe set up yesterday and it didn't work."

Alec shrugged. "We had a minor setback with that but it's fixed now. The system's up and running. The generator's been running for a week, didn't I mention that?"

Liz slapped his hand. "No, you didn't. A week? Then the whole camp has power now?"

"Yep. The ground installation for all the buildings is finished. The underground structure is set up, too. We'll be ready to move the office and communication station next week and once that's done we'll fence off the southern shore of the lake. We'll move all the kids there and hopefully by the tenth of September the first crews can get there and we can really start building."

Liz could hear the understated current of impatience in his voice. She knew he'd been frustrated with the slow progress in the mountain retreat they wanted to build. They'd had to do everything themselves until they could get somewhere to keep the transhumans out of sight while construction workers and the electric company guys had to be running around their home. They could've made it into an 'escape and evade' exercise in the woods, but the guys didn't want that. Freak Nation 2 was supposed to be their home, not a second Manticore. And things were moving along quite fast, actually, despite Alec's feeling to the contrary.

Having to stay behind a fence wasn't ideal, either, but it was okay because it was only temporary and they could do whatever they wanted there. The retreat was officially a private home for orphans so the sounds of a bunch of kids running wild behind a fence wouldn't surprise anyone.

"It's only been three weeks, Alec. You're all doing a great job," she told him, squeezing the hand she'd just slapped moments ago. "In no time at all you'll have a real home for all of you."

Alec smiled at her. He knew, objectively, that he couldn't complain about the progress. It was only the four of them, Sandeman -- who, even though he was older, had all the strength his Familiar breeding gave him -- and Jim, along with whoever of the Rowsellians he happened to bring that day. They could have started with the fencing job but he preferred to do the underground half of the work by themselves anyway. Liz was right. Things would move along faster now.

"I'm leaving for a few days next week," he told her.

"Where are you going?"

He shook his head. "Later. Let me tell you just how we met before your parents ambush us."

Nancy Parker entered the Crashdown to see her daughter slap the arm of an attractive young man, to much amusement on his part.

Alec noticed the redhead who came in from the Employees Only door, Jeff following behind. "I think your parents are ready for their little interrogation."

Liz let her head drop to the table. "I'm sorry, Alec," she apologized in advance. "Whatever they say, just remember that you really like me and you don't have to see them ever again."

Alec's laughter welcomed the Parkers. He stood to offer his hand to Nancy.

Jeff made the introduction. "Alec, this is my wife Nancy."

"A pleasure, ma'am," Alec said kissing the hand she'd offered in turn.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Don't over do it, Alec."

"Just trying to make a nice impression, Liz. It's not like I'm hitting on her or anything. _That_ would be going too far." He let go of Nancy's hand and pointed to the seat beside him.

"Thank you." She sat down.

"Now, I understand Liz here has offered me up for the sacrificial slab?" he prompted them.

"Alec!" Liz chastised him. She looked at her parents then. "And you behave, please."

"Got it," Jeff placated her. Then he turned to Alec. "So... how old are you?"

Liz snorted. "Geez, dad, start easy why don't you?"

Alec chuckled. "I'm 22," he answered easily.

"And you don't know any 22 year-old girls?" Jeff asked nonchalantly but Nancy spoke before Liz could complain again.

"What do you do, Alec? Liz has been evading all our questions about you, even the most basic ones."

Liz refused to meet anyone's eyes, playing with the ketchup bottle.

"We're not sure if she refuses to tell us or if she just doesn't know," Jeff added pointedly.

Alec looked at Liz surprised. "She does know, or at least she has a general idea. I'm not sure I've ever gone into details. I'm building a retreat in the Sacramento Mountains. It's a privately owned school for special and gifted children. I'm the manager, basically."

Nancy seemed impressed. "That sounds very interesting."

"So you got a business degree then?" Jeff prodded. Yes, okay, it sounded like a good deal but he wanted to know about Alec; the man, not his business.

Alec hesitated briefly, taking a sip of his drink to buy himself time. He hadn't gotten a background for his identity yet, but that was as good a choice as any, really. "Yes, I do," he answered the question, not offering any further information.

Nancy's face showed her surprise. "Aren't you a bit young for that kind of job? It's a lot of responsibility."

"I must confess the person bankrolling the project is a friend of the family. It is my project, really."

Nancy seemed satisfied with the explanation and changed the topic. "So where are you from, Alec?"

Alec smirked at Liz. "Wyoming, originally. But I grew up in Seattle before I moved east to go to school. I've only recently moved to the area."

"Las Cruces?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, initially," Alec confirmed. "I was staying at a hotel there while the construction crew settled up in the mountains. But I've already moved to the school grounds. We're still building and there's a long way to go, but I like to stay on top of things so living up there seemed like the thing to do."

A waitress came up to the table with their food then. Nancy stood and stepped back, giving her husband a pointed look. "We'll let you eat. It was nice meeting you, Alec. You're welcome to stop by anytime you come to town." She grabbed Jeff's hand and pulled, helping him along. "Enjoy your evening. Liz, don't forget you have the morning shift tomorrow."

"I won't, mom," Liz promised, giving her a grateful look. It hadn't been that bad, after all.

"Okay, then," Jeff said finally. "I guess we'll see you, Alec."

"Yes, you will."

The couple watched them go into the back room and then they looked at each other.

"So, how did I do?" he asked her.

Liz chuckled. "I think you won mom over all right. But dad... the jury's still out on that one."

"Oh well, I expected nothing less."

"I gather Sandeman is that 'friend of the family'?"

"Yeah, I'll have to get on that background info soon. Not that I expect your parents to look into it or anything. Anyway, where do you think I went to school? Something good but not Harvard good. That's your thing."

"I'll think about it. Now, you were telling me you're going away..."

"It's just a few days. Maxie is coming with me," Alec explained, "We're running low on funds right now, lower than I like anyway, so it's time to go 'get' some more."

"Oh?"

Alec dismissed the whole thing with a handwave. "We're going to LA. There're a few people there with a small drug problem. They keep getting it sent to them from the South American cartels and then people insist on paying them a lot of money for it. We thought we'd give them a hand. Rid them of all that cash and dangerous chemicals."

Liz looked down at her food. She'd known their plans for getting money, and it wasn't like it was a permanent solution for them. They had plans for their future. But right now none of them even existed and you needed a lot of money to make more money. She knew all that. She just wasn't sure how she felt about it. Stealing, even from drug dealers, didn't seem like an acceptable alternative.

Alec nudged her softly. "Hey," he coaxed her to look at him. "I'm sorry, Liz. I shouldn't have told you that-"

"No," Liz protested. "I'd rather know the truth."

"Maybe, but there was no need to be so flippant about it. I'm sorry. I know you don't like it." He thought about their reaction when the issue had been addressed before. They all seemed uncomfortable with the idea of stealing. "You know it's only temporary, right? We're only resorting to this now because we don't have many options. As soon as we can set up a few businesses we'll start making our money the legal way."

Liz smiled softly. "I know. Forget about it. Let's just concentrate on tonight. Next week's issues will be dealt with next week."

Alec reached across the table to brush his thumb down her cheek and Liz's smile turned bright and sweet. She leaned her cheek into his caress before turning and biting his thumb. Alec's yelp made her laugh.

"That's what you get for tempting me under the watchful eyes of my parents," she teased him.

Alec looked around but Jeff was busy behind the counter and Nancy was nowhere to be seen. He narrowed his eyes at her. "You better dig in, Liz, because the moment I'm done I'm dragging you outta here and punishing you for that."

"Promises, promises," Liz sighed and took a big bite off her dinner.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Last weekend of September 2001_

The backyard of the Evans home was so full of people, lawn chairs, tables, food and drinks you could barely walk around.

The day had dawned hot and sunny. After almost two months, everyone had found a day to get together. Diane Evans had insisted on hosting a barbeque in her home and, although banned from any actual cooking, she'd enlisted her daughter's help and, together, she and Isabel had organized, made lists, shopped... checked and rechecked every last item and person on every one of their lists.

Looking out from the kitchen door and seeing the Parkers, the Whitmans, Jim and Amy, all the kids and even those new friends of theirs from the mountains, Diane gave herself a figurative pat on the back. She caught Isabel's eyes and got a satisfied wink from her.

"Mom," Max called from behind her and she turned back into the kitchen.

"Yes, honey?" She saw Max holding two big pie boxes and she hurried to get one from him. "Here, give me that." She took the one on top and led the way out.

"Is that the cheesecake or the chocolate one?" Max asked her.

Diane noticed the box she was holding was half open. She peeked inside. "The chocolate cake, why?"

"Put that one on the big table, will you?"

Diane gave his son a questioning look but did as told and when she set the cake down and opened the box, she heard an eager moan next to her. She turned and found the brunette girl -Maxie, Isabel had introduced her- eyeing the cake with a hungry look on her face.

Diane chuckled and Maxie looked up, embarrassed. "Go ahead, sweetie, have a piece before the hungry masses get wind of it," Diane offered.

"Thank you," Maxie told her, already cutting into the pie.

Diane took the empty box away and went back to the kitchen, passing Max on his way out with another two boxes. She gave him a knowing look but he walked on, not meeting her eyes.

xxx

Jeff was talking to Jim and Philip in a corner. He was only half listening to the conversation, though, the other half kept going back to the couple sitting close on a chaise lounge, sharing a piece of cake.

"I'm glad to see they're still friends," he heard Philip say and turned again, catching sight of Max, taking the empty plate from them and laughing at something Alec said.

Jeff sighed, "Yeah, me too." He looked at the other man. "I gotta admit I wasn't Max's biggest fan for the longest time but Alec has made me find a new appreciation for your son."

Philip snorted. "I hear you. Alex has never looked better to me: intelligent, good sense of humor. Crazy about my little girl. And age appropriate."

Jim chuckled. "They're all good kids. Even Alec," he added for Jeff's benefit. "I've come to know him quite well the last eight weeks. I know you'll always worry -and believe me, I've never been happier about having a boy instead of a girl- but, for what it's worth, your daughter could do a hell of a lot worse."

"Or younger," Philip added innocently.

Jeff just grumbled at both of them. But he didn't insist. The truth was that he'd seen Alec a few times since that first visit and the young man had never given him any real reason to complain... Beyond the fact that he was a 22 year-old dating his barely legal daughter, dammit. And he was a smart ass.

"How's their project coming along?" he asked Jim instead.

Jim told them that in the short time they'd been working they had made a lot of progress. The fact that Alec had hired different crews to work on every building he wanted meant that all of them were being built at the same time.

Philip listened to Jim talk animatedly about the mountain school's development and felt relieved. He'd felt guilty for a long time about his children's role in the events that led to the Town Council firing Jim.

He'd never really understood how the man had become so involved with the teens' lives. He'd even felt jealous sometimes because it seemed that his kids were closer to the other man than to him and Diane.

It had been Jim who convinced them that the road trip the kids had taken had been a good idea. And they all looked more relaxed now. Max had finally found some kind of self-confidence and maybe even peace. Philip had never seen his son so at ease.

Isabel approached them. "Would you like some cake, Mr. Parker?" she offered, carrying three plates. "Dad? Sheriff?"

"I'd love some, honey. Er... your mom didn't bake these, did she?"

Jeff answered him before Isabel could reprimand him, "Nancy brought dessert."

"Oh, good!" Philip took one of the plates and dug in with gusto.

The other two followed his example and Isabel walked back to the table where Diane was cutting up more pieces.

"Who's left?" Isabel asked.

"I think only Ava, Kyle and the couple with the weird names, Susi and...?"

"CeCe, mom. CeCe and Biggs."

"Right, them. They were sitting at the front steps a while ago."

"Okay, I'll take them some. You should go ahead and sit. Have some yourself, you've done more than enough. We'll make Max and the guys deal with the clean-up."

Diane nodded, "Good idea, honey. I am rather tired."

Isabel stopped to kiss her mom on her way to the front. She found the foursome sitting on the front steps; Michael, too. Biggs was telling Kyle some story.

"... And then Ben talked Alex -mini Alec, you know- into going to explore the new dig. Zack almost had a stroke, of course, because the twins snuck out after everyone had gone to bed and suddenly he found himself a kid short. He came to get us but Alec was already out. He'd seen them crawling outside his tent and went to see what was up."

"Of course," CeCe added, "instead of sending them back to bed, he decided a midnight excursion was a brilliant idea and went with them."

Biggs went for the grand finale. "The best part was when we went to get them and Zack gave Alec a strong reprimand for keeping a member of his unit up after _he_ had ordered them all to bed. Alec's face was priceless."

Isabel set the plates on the floor beside them and then sat down. "Are you saying Alec got told off by a three year old? How could you not tape that for posterity!? What a tragedy," she lamented.

CeCe nodded dramatically, "I know! I insisted all the security cameras had to be working as soon as possible after that. Sadly, Alec's been especially careful not to get himself caught again." She finished her cake and grabbed Biggs' plate from his hand and started eating.

"Not to get caught sneaking out or not to get caught being reprimanded?" Michael asked, trying not to laugh at Biggs' face.

Biggs thought about it for a moment, "Both, mostly. The COs are really fond of giving orders and sometimes they forget we're the ones in charge, not them," he explained, standing up to go get a new piece of cake without a word of protest.

Kyle snorted. "If I had to answer to Alec I'd forget, too."

Ava elbowed him playfully. "Shut up, Alec's method works. I've seen them all doing what he wants them to without realising they're following orders."

CeCe laughed, "Yeah, that's his speciality."

xxx

The Whitmans were gathering plates and cutlery from the smaller table against Diane's explicit orders.

"Dad, you don't have to do that, we'll clean everything."

Ellen looked at her son sternly. "Are you sure, Alex? Because I refuse to leave Diane with all the work. She's been kind enough to put together this barbeque for all of us and-"

"Mom! I swear. Isabel has it on her list and that's final. We are on clean duty. Just relax. Go sit with Mrs. Evans and enjoy yourselves." He pushed them towards Diane and watched them sit with her and join her conversation with Nancy, Amy and Maria. Then he went looking for Isabel. He'd seen her go into the house a little while ago.

On his way in he walked by Max, talking to Liz and Alec.

"I'm sorry we can't come up now that school's started again. Ava was telling me how fast things are going," Max was saying.

Alec waved him off, squeezing Liz's waist closer to him where she sat between his legs. "Don't worry about it, man. We've got more than enough people now. And having Ava coming with Jim really helps. Some of the stuff she can 'do' saves us all a lot of time and trouble."

Just then, Maxie sat down next to Max and addressed Liz. "Your mom just told me you did that awesome chocolate cake! Girl, that was delicious. You gotta teach me how to do it."

Liz laughed, "Sure, I love baking, and chocolate cakes are my specialty."

"I didn't know that," Alec said into her neck.

Maxie looked at Max then and gave him a knowing smile. To his surprise, she kissed his cheek and got up, saying "Thank you" while leaving.

Max looked down at his lap, avoiding the other two's eyes. After an awkward moment he also stood and left the couple. He saw Liz's smile from the corner of his eye.

"What was that about?" Alec asked her.

"Max asked me to bake that cake. He knows how much Maxie likes her chocolate."

Alec looked after Max then at Maxie, not so subtly waiting for him in a corner of the patio. "Alright," he said finally. "He's much of an improvement on Maxie's taste."

Liz pushed back into him to shut him up but she was smiling.

She was happy to see Max so taken with the fiery X5, especially because she thought Maxie liked him, too, and Liz liked Maxie.

"It turned out okay, didn't it?" Alec murmured into her hair.

Liz sighed contentedly, nodding. She watched her family. She'd gotten so far in so little time. Her relationship with her parents hadn't been so easy in a long time. Her dreams were well on her way- her Harvard application was already filled. She had gotten back her friendship with the aliens, especially Max. And she'd found new friends.

And, of course, she had Alec.

She turned in his embrace and pulled his head down for a kiss.

Her life could really not get any better.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To Be Finished


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_August 27th, 2007_

The light of the new day fell on an eerily empty playground. The night owls were gathered at 'The Breakroom', and the early risers wouldn't wake for a little while longer. Six big buildings filled the school grounds, surrounding the medium sized lake on all sides but one. The fourth side was an open field fit to play several different sports.

The newest edifice hosted a science lab that could rival those of most Universities. The tallest one had ten stories, five apartments per level, and an eleventh floor that housed only one apartment. Most were still empty.

There were a few cabins lining the woods limits, not too big but equipped with all the commodities. Some were occupied; others were a second home to those who didn't reside permanently at Sacramento Mountains.

The actual school was the smallest building. But that didn't necessarily mean it was small. It had two stories full of classrooms, and a ground floor that included a smallish theater for both musical and drama subjects to be taught. Science classes were imparted at the lab, and for computer and technology skills the kids went to the communications station.

One of the buildings had been built half on land, half over the lake. It was the gym, and they had built an open swimming pool that 'was' the lake -- they had, of course, another one, indoors --, and there were also the docks.

There was a high fence surrounding the school grounds. One that was meant to protect those living inside, not to keep them jailed. But the property spread over such a vast amount of land that you could hardly feel trapped. Over the years, they had bought more of the surrounding land from the government. And they had brought electric supply from the nearest town.

All in all, it was as close to paradise as you could get on earth. Especially if you came from Manticore.

xxx

"That's really good, Josh." Michael Guerin studied the canvas on the easel. The painting had an abstract feel to it but it mixed several different styles. Or maybe because of it.

The painter blushed but his grin was wide and happy. Sixteen-year-old Joshua was a gentle soul and he had taken to painting like duck to water. He'd learned under Michael's guidance after Alec mentioned in passing how good he could be at it, how good he'd been _before_.

"Thank you," he said softly.

Michael pointed to a group of symbols that looked deliberate. "What are those?"

"Words," he said simply, as if it was obvious.

"Yeah? What language, dude?"

"Oh, er... Minoan," he explained. He'd forgotten Michael hadn't attended Sandeman's classes like all the transgenics and transhumans here. Michael had only joined the school after he'd finished _his_ schooling. "Father taught us the old language and rites."

Michael nodded. Of course, he knew all the Manticore 'soldiers' had learned the Familiar teachings. 'Know your enemy,' Alec had insisted. He just hadn't bothered to learn the ancient symbols himself. He knew what he needed to know, he trusted the transgenics to tell him as much.

"So, which one do you want to show at the party?"

Josh bounced excitedly. He was a ball of energy that could rarely sit still. Especially when he was happy. He ran from painting to painting looking for the perfect choice.

xxx

"Keep that position. Hold it... Hold it... Now!"

The order was followed by a loud thud as a body hit the mat.

"Good job, Kane," Alec complimented the kid left standing and gave the one on the floor a helping hand.

"He got lucky, that's all," he said, taking Alec's hand.

A girl snorted behind them muttering loud enough for everyone to hear, "Funny how that's always his excuse."

The boy glared at her and someone else stepped into the mat. "Oh, don't be mad, Bennie, you know that's just plain playground behaviour," he said, putting an arm on Ben's shoulders. "It just means she likes you."

Alec pushed them both towards the other edge of the mat before Tania could kick them out herself. "Have you been eavesdropping again, Alex?" He'd heard Liz and CeCe talking about it in those exact terms only two days ago.

Alex adopted the most innocent expression he could muster, which wasn't very innocent at all. "Me? You've told me I shouldn't do that. I would never disobey you, dad?"

Alec slapped the back of his head. "Knock it off with the dad bullshit, kiddo," he growled.

The gathered X5s laughed. Everyone knew how much Alec hated it when Alex called him dad. The four adult X5s had explained to them a long time ago where they all came from and how they came to be where they were now.

Alex, Susie, Bryce and Maxie J -- she had refused to change her name, Ben had given it to her and she had as much right to keep it, dammit! -- had been a bit awkward with the situation at first until they'd realized that it gave them a special status amongst the other X5s. After that, they started referring to the older version of themselves as 'mom' and 'dad', much to their annoyance.

"You're repudiating your children? How could you, dad?" Ben jumped in.

Alec put him in a chokehold. "Don't even start with me, Ben. **You** are **not** related to me, is that clear?"

Alex tried to help Ben. "But I am, right? I knew it," he got out in between pushing and pulling and kicking at the older X5.

Alec just laughed. He left them try for a little while longer and then said, "Okay, hold it right there. Do you see how I got Ben paralysed?" he addressed the whole group and the relaxed atmosphere shifted. It was back to class time. He got nods all around in response. "Good. Pair up. The tallest of the two will be me and the shortest will be Bennie here."

"And me?" Alex asked looking around. Ben was his usual partner.

"You'll look for now." He pointed to the side so the others could see them clearly. When Alex passed by him, he added in a smug tone, "Maybe next time you'll listen to your old man."

Alex looked at him startled and smiled when he saw the wince on Alec's face. He hadn't meant to say that. Alec rolled his eyes.

"Out."

Alex stepped off the mat and Alec turned back to the others. "Okay. This maneuver can get you out of a lot of trouble. First the 'Alecs'. Keep your feet..."

xxx

The sun was setting over the mountains, giving everything a reddish tone. Alec was the last one to leave the gym well after everyone else. He walked towards his apartment. The elevator took him up to the eleventh floor and opened up to a spacious hall.

"Liz? You home?"

He set up his gym bag on the floor next to the door, knowing Liz would nag later and he'd have to 'make up' for it. He went into the kitchen. It was too close to dinner time to have a sandwich now but Alec had skipped lunch today and he was hungry.

He was getting the bread out of the cupboard when the door closed with a slam. He barely got his hand out before it got caught. "Hey!"

"Alec McDowell, we've got company for dinner and I've spent more than an hour slaving away at the stove," Liz glared at him. "If you know what's good for you, you'll put that back in the fridge, have a piece of fruit if you're hungry... Go back to the door and pick up your bag... And then come say hello to me. I'll be in the shower."

She gave him a bright smile and a peck on his lips before turning around and leaving the kitchen again.

Alec watched her walk off with an amused smile. Liz was wearing only a towel and her hair was made up into a loose bun. He went to do as told.

He walked into the bathroom, apple in hand, and leaned on the sink, watching Liz's silhouette behind the shower door. "Hey, girl. If I'd known I'd catch you in the shower I'd've skipped mine at the gym."

Liz popped her head from behind the door and smirked. "What makes you think I would've let you share my shower? You do remember I'm mad at you, right?"

Alec shrugged sheepishly, it had been just a small disagreement, he knew Liz wasn't really mad. "I'm sure I could've persuaded you... Guess we'll never know now. Hey, who's coming to dinner?"

"Maria and Michael," she raised her voice over the din of the water.

Alec snorted. "That's not 'company', Liz. That's Maria and Michael. Wait, when did Maria get back?"

Liz didn't answer immediately. She finished up and turned off the tap. She opened the door and held out a hand. "Yesterday. Michael went to get her to Las Cruces. They spent the night in Roswell, to see Amy. They got here a few hours ago. Didn't you stop by the Center?"

Alec handed her the towel, shaking his head. "Nah, I got Ben and Alex last. I didn't feel like going anywhere but home where I can hide," he sighed, making her laugh.

She fastened the towel and pulled Alec to her, hugging him. "Poor baby."

"You're getting me all wet," Alec grumbled.

Liz smiled saucily. "I thought that was my line," she purred, pulling him down to kiss her.

Alec's answering remark died off, who cared if she got the last word when he got her in return? He caught her by her hips and lifter her, turning around to set her down on the counter, not breaking the kiss.

Liz moaned appreciatively, she loved being manhandled by Alec. She nipped his lip and pulled. Alec growled playfully.

"Hello," she breathed into his mouth.

"Right back at ya."

xxx

Michael sat at the couch with Liz, watching Alec and Maria bickering. "Look at them. They're like little kids."

Liz nudged his shoulder. "You would know, huh?"

Michael snorted. He'd been living around X5s for the last five years. After finishing high school, Michael had thought long and hard about what to do with his life. Jeff had told him he had a job with them at the Crashdown as long as he wanted it. Be it while he figured out what to do next or permanently. He was already broken in, after all, Jeff had joked.

Michael had considered it. After much deliberation the group had finally 'come out' to their parents, and it meant a lot to Michael that the Parkers would still open their door to him afterwards. But in the end, he'd felt that if he took the man up on that offer he would never really leave. So he'd asked Alec if he could stay with them for a while.

He'd meant to spend a few months, helping out and doing some soul-searching before moving on.

Somehow, the last part had never happened.

He'd discovered how much he enjoyed working with the Manticoreans; transgenics and transhumans alike. He'd been given the task of teaching them some kind of 'Cultural Studies' at first. Just how to blend in. Something he'd been doing all his life. He'd moved onto art and auto shop, and sometimes even literature if the mood struck.

Maria had gone to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces so everything had worked out perfectly for them.

Until now.

"What do you think she'll do?" he asked Liz softly.

Liz caught his hand and squeezed it. She couldn't give him an answer. Maria herself didn't know what to do with her life. After graduating, she had moved to New York for a while, to give her music career a chance. She had made some contacts, had gotten some stage time. Liz knew she could make it if she gave it her all. But she also knew Maria wasn't sure that was what's best for her.

Michael sighed and looked back at the oblivious pair. They'd finally stopped bickering and chosen a song. Alec was playing in the beautiful piano Liz had given him as a Christmas present a few years ago. And Maria sat next to him, singing. They were going through the most annoying repertoire of TV commercials tunes they could think of. Go figure.

Liz let go of Michael's hand and leaned on him, giving him the closest thing to a hug she thought he'd accept.

Michael looked down at her, burrowing into his shoulder, and chuckled. He put his arm around her and they listened to the show.

When the song ended, Maria closed the small space between herself and Alec and hung onto his arm, resting her chin on his shoulder. "That was awesome, Alec. When are you going to teach me to play?"

Alec laughed. It was a running 'joke' with them. They both knew she could learn to play anywhere else; but Maria insisted it had to be Alec, and he'd promised to do it only when she moved to the mountains with them.

He put his arm around her shoulders and held her tight. He knew she was having a hard time coming to a decision. Then he looked behind him and snorted, nudging his shoulder and nodding his head towards Liz and Michael so Maria would look at them, too.

Michael was absently playing with Liz's hair and she'd closed her eyes. Alec knew how much she enjoyed having her hair played with. Michael was staring off, obviously lost in thought.

Alec cleared his throat loudly, "Hey, Commander, mind taking your hands off my girl?" he said, startling them.

Michael smirked and pulled Liz into his lap, making her shriek in surprise. He hid his face into her neck and bit her.

"Michael!"

Alec was torn between laughing and glaring. Finally he said calmly, "I'm three seconds away from kissing your girlfriend breathless, Guerin. She'll never settle for you after that... One-"

Maria jumped to her feet. "No, Alec! Please! You're already taken and what will I do then? Helplessly in love with you and never the one you want," she sighed dramatically.

"Hey!" Michael exclaimed, setting Liz back on the couch and standing, he got to Maria in two long strides. "I'll show you 'helplessly in love'..."

She giggled when he swept her off her feet and walked them to the door.

"Michael, what are you doing?" she shrieked. But Michael ignored her. "Thanks for dinner, guys!" she yelled from the elevator, Michael pushing the button for the first floor. She was still talking when the doors closed. "I'll see you tomorrow at the party!"

xxx

Biggs entered the cabin he shared with CeCe and Noa, followed by Sandeman.

It was a beautiful log cabin, very close to the lake -- it was practically part of the back yard --, and it was decorated with warm earthy colors. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a big living room. One corner of this last one acted as a home office, with a complex computer system on a big mahogany desk and a file cabinet next to it. It took up a lot of space, but it didn't take from the homey feeling of the room. It was a well-lived, happy home first and foremost.

CeCe looked up from the book she was reading. "You're late. Noa went to bed an hour ago. There's dinner in the fridge- Oh, hey, Charles. Didn't see you there." She rose from the couch and approached the two men. She gave Biggs a kiss and then greeted Sandeman. "Come sit."

Sandeman followed her while Biggs went to get his dinner. He'd been caught up for two hours longer than usual by Sandeman's arrival and he was starving. He heard CeCe offering the old man something to eat, too.

"No, thank you," Sandeman was saying when Biggs joined them, sitting on the floor and setting the plate on the coffee table.

"How was Washington?" CeCe asked.

Sandeman sighed, "Pretty much the same as always. Full of people who think they rule the world."

"Did you make contact?" Biggs went straight to the point. He didn't mean to be rude but it had been a long day and he just wanted to go to bed with CeCe.

"Yes. I managed to meet with the NASA consultant for the White House. If they detect anything strange in the sky, be it a comet or an unidentified plane about to set off the Pulse, we'll hear about it."

Biggs nodded. The year of the Pulse was approaching fast. Thankfully they had all the known details about the attack, Manticore taught them military history in detail, but they made sure to watch out in case anything was different this time around. "Good." Of course, they had their own satellite access and they would keep watch from here. Still, it never hurt keep your ears and eyes open, especially if the eyes belonged to NASA.

"I also met with Walker," Sandeman added. "He's not yet sold on the idea of betraying the Coven but I think it won't take long. His son is due for the test this fall and the poor kid has always been on the weak side. Walker's never been much of a company man, either, but he was just too scared to do anything about it. The threat to his kid's life might be all he needs." Sandeman stared off towards the smaller bedroom, seeing a boy's room with a different sleeping child in his mind. "Lord knows it was enough for me," he whispered.

CeCe patted his hand and Biggs decided the rest of Sandeman's news could wait.

"We'll meet with Alec and Maxie in the morning and decide our next move."

Sandeman cleared his throat and stood. "Right. I am rather tired. I heard there is a party tomorrow?"

CeCe walked him to the door. "Yes, apparently everyone's schedule had a gap this weekend. Weird, huh? It's the first time this year. The girls decided a party was in order."

Biggs shook Sandeman's hand at the door. "Get some rest tonight, Charles. Alec has a conference call scheduled at nine. We'll meet you at ten and then the rest of the day will be in the hands of Liz and Isabel."

Sandeman chuckled. "I can't wait."

xxx

"Noa! Be careful!"

Alec heard CeCe and turned to see what she was doing. He saw the little girl squeeze her way between the bodies crowding the small 'patio' that had been built near the lake. Her long blond hair was split in two braids that flew behind her. Her progress was marked by people jumping aside and things dropping from unsuspecting transgenics, aliens, humans and tables alike.

He caught sight of her goal and intercepted her trajectory, sweeping her into a fireman's carry position and making her squeal and giggle loudly. "Let me go! Let go!"

"No way! If I put you down I can kiss my special cake goodbye," he said, tickling the girl's sides. Noa could only laugh, she wasn't able to get out words any longer.

Alex came up behind Alec and swat him on his free shoulder. "Put the poor kid down, man. That's just cruel. She's been plotting her way into Isabel's own 'Fort Knox' all afternoon," he said pointing to the desserts table.

Noa reached out her little arms," Help me, Uncle Alex! Help!"

Alec stepped back from the other man, tsking at him. "She made her move and she failed," he declared and then his voice got an evil mastermind's tone to it. "She's gotta take the punishment now."

Noa screamed. "Dad! Mom! Help!"

CeCe, who had been going to rescue her daughter from her impending death by laughter at Alec's hands, smiled sweetly at her.

Noa's face lit up when she saw her mother. "Mom! Make him put me down!" she begged.

But CeCe only shrugged. "He's right, baby. I told you to try the sneaky approach and you didn't listen to me... That's what you get for not doing what I tell you, next time..."

Alec frowned, tuning her out. Well, if he was going to be a tool to teach Noa a lesson that just took all the fun out of it. "Oh, man," he complained, putting the little girl down.

The moment her feet touched the ground CeCe yelled, "Run, Noa!"

Alec tried to grab her again, knowing he'd been played, but CeCe tackled him down.

"Hey! Don't break him, okay? I'll want to use him later," Liz told CeCe, passing the couple rolling on the floor on her way to the closest bathroom she could find.

A few minutes later, she went back outside and straight for Isabel. The tall blonde was sitting at the dock with her brother, his wife and Biggs. Liz sat down with them, next to Isabel and they both watched fascinated at Max.

"They'll be making a disappearing act in less than five minutes, you'll see," Isabel whispered.

Maxie was sitting sideways in Max's lap, his arm protectively curved over her bulging belly. She was talking to Biggs but her hands kept petting her husband's arm, hand, shoulder... Wherever she could reach. Liz was sure she wasn't even aware she was doing it. Max asked Biggs something and while the other man answered Maxie kept brushing her cheek on Max's shoulder, absently kissing his jaw.

It was actually funny, because Maxie had never been much into PDAs but since she got pregnant she had turned into this sometimes sweet, cuddly -- in public -- sometimes down right horny -- in private, thank you very much -- person. And Max was enjoying every moment of it.

Maxie had to endure lots of teasing for it, but she just didn't care. She was big as a house and hot all the time, literally and figuratively. And if she wanted to kiss her husband she would sure as hell do it.

Out of the blue, Maxie interrupted Biggs's explanation on some thing or another, she'd lost track. "I'm hungry. Bring me some pie?" she half-whined, half-demanded.

"Hey! It's not the time for pie, yet," Isabel protested but Maxie turned her pouty lips and pleading eyes and rubbed her very prominent belly. "Oh, hell. Give her whatever she wants," she relented.

Maxie smiled brightly at her and Max left to get her pie.

"Maxie! Maxie!" A little girl was running towards them with a small trophy in her hand. "I won! I won!" She skid to a halt before Maxie and knelt next to her, careful not to lean on her belly. "Look!"

Maxie took the trophy from her and read the plate. "Hide and Seek?" She looked up to the gleeful child. "How'd you convince them to let you play, Ali?"

Ali shrugged but her smile was positively mischievous. "I gave them all a headstart and I promised not to use any of the special tricks and spots you've taught me."

Maxie laughed at that. She'd always been especially good at Escape and Evade and she had taken a liking for Ali. She'd shown her and Maxie J all her tricks. And they never got caught.

"Who was doing the seeking?" Liz asked the little girl.

Ali launched into a long explanation, the words rushing out almost too fast to follow. "At first it was Alec, and then, when he got called away to do something, he got Josh to take his place. And everyone said it wasn't fair because he has a better nose than all of us but they'd been caught already so it didn't matter. And then Johnny tried to cheat and go hide and again and then-"

"How do you know all that if you were hiding?" Maxie cut into her excited chatter.

"Oh, I was hiding under the pie table, which fooled Josh because all the pies smell delicious, and the judges table was right next to it. It's a high table and there are handles mid-way so I was plastered to the underside of the table and not on the floor so they didn't see me when they checked. And I found a hole in the table and got some cookies 'cos it took so long I got hungry," she paused to catch her breath before her grand finale. "And then they gave up 'cos they couldn't find me and I came out from under the table and I won!"

Maxie opened her arms and Ali rushed to her side and hugged her. "Good job, girl."

"Thank you." Ali was glowing under the obvious pride in Maxie's voice.

"Didn't Maxie J play?"

Ali shook her head, shifting until she found a comfortable position leaning on Maxie. "She said she wanted to try her hand at some other game and I could keep the trophy for this one."

They all laughed. Maxie J was just as stubborn and cocky as Maxie. And Ben and Alex spoiled her rotten. Poor Zack had a hard time keeping them all in check.

Isabel stood. "Well then. Congratulations, Ali. What do you say we go tell CeCe you deserve the first piece of cake?"

Ali jumped to her feet with a resounding "Yes!" before rushing off.

Liz looked at Isabel. "I thought it wasn't time for dessert yet?"

Isabel shook her head. "Noa's been making surprise attacks on the table all afternoon and, anyway, who cares!" She followed after Ali, who was already at the table waiting expectantly for her.

xxx

Michael and Ava led the small group around the resort. Both Maria and Jim had spent very little time on the grounds lately and they hadn't kept up with the latest additions and improvements. Kyle just tagged along for the company.

"Is that a helicopter?" Jim interrupted Michael's running commentary, pointing towards a shed a little ways away from where the party had been set. The building didn't look like much, it didn't even have a door, which explained how Jim had seen the aircraft.

"Oh, Dad, you'll love it!" Kyle exclaimed, pulling on his father's arm. He ignored Ava rolling her eyes at him and dragged his father away. "I'm learning to pilot it. Biggs takes me out with him and lets me take the controls for a while. I haven't done landings or take-offs yet, but Alec says I'm improving a lot in the simulator so it won't be long now."

The other three followed them at a slower pace. They heard Jim asking bewildered where it came from.

"That's actually a good question," Maria addressed the two aliens. "I know they have, like, lots of money -- that I've never really worried how they get -- but planes? Isn't that for the disgustingly rich and snob?"

"Or those who can afford it and live in the middle of nowhere..." Ava said.

Michael snorted. Trust Maria to not know anything about the different businesses the Xs had set up throughout the years in fields as diverse as security consultancy, software writing, art dealing... "If we're talking about snobs then..."

Ava elbowed him. "Oh, shut up, idiot. Maria, it's not like it's a private jet. Alec got it quite cheap, actually, seeing as it was in a junkyard. It looked terrible, all wrecked. But, hey, guess what? Turns out they know how to build one from scratch so having the wreck to work from made it a 'piece of cake'," Ava quoted. From the tone Maria guessed it was Alec who'd said it.

"And the simulator?"

"Apparently, it's not that complicated," Ava explained. "They got two cockpit batteries and put one on the 'copter and the other one they hooked to a computer. Alex wrote the software program for one of his classes at MIT."

Maria shook her head slowly. "That's just amazing," she said, watching Kyle sitting in the pilot's seat and explaining everything he'd learned to Jim. She turned to Michael. "Are you learning too?"

"I've done the simulation practices and, of course, I know the theory," he said, pointing to his head, referring to his photographic memory. "But I haven't gone on the real thing..." He seemed suddenly uncomfortable and Maria squeezed herself under his arm, hanging onto his shoulder. "I don't know that I'm much of a flyer," he confessed.

Ava walked up to the other two, giving them some privacy.

"But you've flown before. To see me in New York, and that one time to Vegas and back."

Michael shrugged. "I know, and those weren't exactly happy flights either, but it wasn't me doing the flying."

"Oh." Maria didn't know what to say. There weren't that many things that Michael was afraid of. Or at least, that he was so afraid of he would rather say so than face his fear.

Michael said it for her in the end. "Anyway, I know how to do it, if there's an emergency... And Kyle loves it, so..."

"Good," she said simply.

They reached the others and listened to Kyle wax poetry about the helicopter -- it reminded Maria of the ones in 'Black Hawk Down' but she had no idea what it was exactly; it just looked military to her -- and flying, and the view, and the rush, and...

"Come on, Kyle, get down already," Jim had to cut him in the end. But he was smiling. He was happy to see Kyle so excited and invested in something.

Kyle jumped down and gave them a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I get carried away. You're staying the night, right, dad?" The older man nodded. "We can ask Biggs to take us for a ride tomorrow if you want."

Jim put his arm around Kyle's shoulders. "Of course I want."

Ava started off back towards the party and the others followed her. She turned to Maria, "Hey, I saw Alec wheel out the keyboard and guitar from the school. Are you guys playing something?"

Maria was surprised. "Not that I know."

"Maybe he's planning on cornering you later and making you entertain us," Kyle teased her.

Michael shook his head. "Nah, some of the kids wanted to play. You know, like Josh and the others have their paintings out to decorate. The others wanted to contribute something, too." He felt Maria relax next to him. It's not like she had to sing or anything but the truth was that she usually never passed up a chance to do so. She loved it.

The uncertainty of her future was stressing her out.

Maria imagined herself teaching those kids. Living up here with Michael. It didn't have to mean that she was giving up on her music, did it? You just had to look around. Alec had given Liz an awesome lab, the latest technology and the most amazing subjects to study. In the best of senses, of course. And Sandeman had all the contacts Liz needed, aside from those she herself had made at Harvard.

Liz was making a name for herself in the scientific community and she was doing it from right here.

Why couldn't she do that? Have a studio here to record her music and send it to the city. Live with Michael and her family and then leave from time to time to give concerts or whatever. Have the best of both worlds.

She could do it. She wasn't kidding about the money. Or the part about not worrying where it came from. She was a little bit like the Three Wise Monkeys in one person.

In the beginning, the four X5s used to leave once a month and come back with small fortunes. They never asked, or at least Maria didn't, but after the second trip it was a given that a drug dealing organization would make the news in the next few days.

That first year, the DEA had busted twelve big operations. They got anonymous tips with an address. There they found the drugs, the traffickers tied up, and all the evidence to build an airtight case.

But they never found any money.

Or the people who gave them the tips.

Then the whole thing stopped. Maria didn't know if they'd just changed to something less high profile or if they'd started making all their money in the legal way from then on. All she knew was that they could afford to build her a studio if she wanted one. And that Alec would do it without thinking it twice. Because it would make her happy. And that would make Liz, Michael and himself happy, too. Maria and Alec had become real tight with the years.

Maria knew that all three of them were worried about her and waiting for her to make up her mind.

Michael felt Maria's arm around his waist tighten reflexively and heard her sigh. He leaned down and whispered to her. "Everything will be okay, Maria."

She smiled up at him. And suddenly it wasn't a hard choice at all. Michael would be by her side whatever she decided. She pushed on her tiptoes and kissed him. "Yeah, it will."

xxx

Liz stopped by CeCe's cabin on the way home that night. Alec had stayed to finish clearing the patio and had told her to go ahead, he'd meet her home in a while.

She knocked on the door and waited. A moment later the door opened and Biggs smiled at her.

"Hey, Liz, come in."

"Is it ready?" Liz asked, walking inside. "Alec will be home soon and I'm hoping to have everything ready by then."

Biggs led her to his bedroom. In a corner, Liz could see the dog bed and food and water bowls. There were also a few scattered toys on the bed but the owner seemed to be missing. She looked at Biggs.

"Oh, right... Noa's gotten a little attached. I'm afraid we'll have to get her one now."

Liz winced. "Sorry. I should've thought of that."

Biggs waved her off. "Don't worry about it. CeCe's almost as bad. And she'd been talking about getting one for months before you asked."

"Okay," Liz said relieved. "So, she's with Noa?"

Biggs chuckled. "Yeah, they've been sleeping together every night. Thank god she sleeps like a log or you'd have trouble getting her out."

They collected all the stuff and put it in the bag Liz had brought it in almost a week ago. Then they went to Noa's bedroom.

Liz couldn't help the smile at the sight. Noa was using the puppy as a teddy bear, her cheek resting on her head, and they were both breathing deeply, almost in synch.

"Oh, they look so cute," Liz cooed.

It took some coaxing to get Noa to let go, but thankfully Biggs was right and when they left the room Noa just rolled over and kept sleeping.

After repeatedly thanking both Biggs and CeCe, who arrived when Liz was leaving, she made her way to the penthouse.

She put the dog down on the couch and took the bed to their room and the bowls to the gallery in the balcony. Then she went back to the couch and settled the sleeping puppy on her arms. It was a light colored Golden Retriever and she obviously thought Liz made the best bed ever because she hadn't opened her eyes once from the moment she'd pulled her from Noa's arms. She just nosed at Liz's elbow where her head rested and snuffled happily.

It wasn't exactly a surprise. Well, it was, because Liz had bought the dog on her own and she had wanted to give it to Alec on his birthday tomorrow... Today, really, because it was almost two a.m. But they had talked about getting a dog. They had decided on a breed and a sex. It was just the actual getting of the dog that was left. And Liz thought it was the perfect present for Alec, although not the only one.

Liz had been sitting there, petting the puppy for about fifteen minutes when she heard the elevator. A moment later Alec was there, leaning on the wall and watching her with a smile on his face.

She gestured him to come closer. "Hi."

"Liz, don't panic, okay?" he whispered. "But there is a ferocious looking dog on your lap."

She rolled her eyes. "Moron. See if we let you play with us now."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Us? You mean I can play with it, too?"

"Her, and no, you can't. That's what you get for mocking her."

The puppy chose that moment to wake up. She whined a bit, looking around at the strange room and then she fixed her eyes on Alec kneeling before Liz.

"Happy birthday, Alec," Liz told him.

Alec reached for the puppy and she sniffed his hand, licking the knuckles when he rubbed her chest. "Hello, girl." He brought her up to look her in the eyes and she cocked her head, studying him.

Suddenly, she made to throw herself at him, tongue lolling, but Alec had a good grip on her.

The puppy settled for yelping excitedly.

Liz laughed. "I think she likes you."

Alec smirked at her. "It's a girl, Liz. Of course she likes me." He went on before she could smack him for that one. "She have a name?"

Liz let it go. "Not yet. I thought you'd want to name her seeing as she's your present and everything."

"Well, yes, but she'll be our dog. Don't you want a say in the matter?"

Liz shrugged, "Noa's been calling her doggy and puppy. Besides, I thought I'd let you name the dog and I'd name the first kid when we have one."

Alec snorted and stood. "Nice try, Parker." He felt the puppy's tongue on his skin again. "You think she's hungry?"

"I don't know, pour her some milk and let her have some if she wants. Her bowl's in the balcony."

Alec moved around the apartment with the dog in one arm, telling her everything he did and what every room was and where she was allowed to go in and where she wasn't.

Liz watched him from the couch, leaning over the back and smiling at his silliness. When he disappeared into the back of the apartment, Liz turned around and put on some soft music.

A little while later, Alec came back and sat down next to her. The dog was almost asleep again. Alec spread a blanket he was carrying on the other end of the couch and put her down. She gave a few turns before choosing the perfect spot and then made herself into a small ball. In a matter of seconds she was back asleep.

"I think I'm gonna call her Sam," he said.

Liz said the names a few times. "I read somewhere the name should be two syllables."

"Well, she'll be Sammy when we're playing around and only Sam when I'm mad at her for taking my place in our bed."

Liz just laughed. "Face it, Alec. She's got you whipped already. You're never calling her Sam."

Alec nodded. "Yeah, you're right. That'll probably be you, when she chews on your shoes or your bags or--"

"Oh, shut up. If I succeeded in housebreaking you I'm sure I can manage Sammy."

Alec pulled her close. "Did I say thank you for my awesome present yet?"

Liz shook her head. "You're a very ungrateful person. I don't think I'll give you the rest of your presents." She squeezed out from his embrace and jumped off the couch.

Alec went after her, looking back at Sam to make sure she was still sleeping before following Liz into the bedroom.

It had been a great day with a very happy ending. It was time to show Liz how much he loved his present... and her.

The end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It would be awesome to know what you think of this story. Thank you for your patience.


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